Truth Teller
by TheHedgeRider
Summary: Seven years after the events of S3 of TO and four years after the events of S7 of TVD, Bonnie Bennett is in New Orleans to find a weapon necessary for defeating the entity that's been unleashed...and finds Klaus Mikaelson. KLONNIE fiction!
1. Two Witches

**Prologue: Two Witches**

It's rare that the actualization of an idea exceeds expectation; and yet New Orleans has done just that for Bonnie Bennett. Upon setting foot in the city, she knew that this vibrant intersection of the magical and the mundane wasn't merely a place to visit.

This was a city to be _experienced_.

A piece of earth that seemed to have developed a kind of sentient life through ages of blood and birth; its consciousness separate from terra firma. It inhales a bit of the essence of each soul that enters and exhales a culture that can't readily be defined… _to the visitor_. A symphony of opposites, centering and transcending with each movement. New Orleans was a heady brew of sight, sound and sensation. The place Life and Death go for a quiet candlelit dinner.

Bonnie made her way easily through the sea of pedestrians out on a muggy Friday night. Back in Mystic Falls, a night like this would feel miserably oppressive. The combination of high humidity and summer heat resulting in sweat-sticky bodies lazily splayed, feeling thick and lacking energy. Even the gentle twang of the contemporary Virginian accent feels the effect, becoming drawn out and downright Antebellum. A night like this would be hell in Mystic Falls.

But then Mystic Falls is a sleepy little town that shuts down at 10 pm while the French Quarter dares you to ignore your creature comforts to come just a little closer and spy the details. Every sense is titillated, seduced into discovering the source of its attraction.

Humans drinking themselves stupid while here is understandable given the sensory overload such a place is capable of inflicting on a sober mind, especially at night. If things were different, Bonnie would throw caution to the wind and get lost within the stimulating expanse.

But things weren't different.

And she hadn't been in the French Quarter an hour before the Regent of the Nine Covens sniffed her out. Walked right up to the bar where she sat and plopped himself down on the stool beside her.

The funny thing about witches is that not only can they sense one another's power, they can sense the nature of it; how its use has molded and shaped its effectiveness. How well it's been cared for; how many wounds it's received and recovered from. How dirty its hands have gotten. They can sense the difference between a witch whose best trick is an aneurysm and one whose best is dropping the veil to The Other Side. A quick perusal of the magic emanating from him and Bonnie knows this Regent fits into the latter category.

He was tall, slender and looked as though he had been crudely carved out of a tree trunk. All sharp angles, uneven lines and splinters covered by walnut brown skin. But where a well-cared for goatee tended to give off an air of mystery and perhaps danger, on this man it made him seem tender. More approachable. There was kindness in his face. Too much kindness, Bonnie surmised.

So while he may know his shit, he wasn't a salty dog.

He wouldn't be of use to her in the end.

"Let me guess...Vincent Griffith?" Her tone is light as she nurses the drink in front of her. She doesn't face him as she speaks, but he can feel her magic prickle against his skin. Hell he'd felt it in the air an hour ago while dining at Rousseau's. Elbows deep in a piping hot bowl of gumbo, enjoying a brief reprieve from the supernatural clusterfuck that was French Quarter politics and he'd felt that power. Felt it so strongly that he half expected its owner to materialize at the table in front of him. Once he realized that the source of it was nowhere around, he began to worry.

With gumbo and peace of mind forgotten, he left Rousseau's and took to the streets, leveling up his senses to track down the witch broadcasting her presence to anyone with enough witchblood in their veins to catch it.

After everything that had gone down in the Quarter over the years, he half expected to find a resurrected Esther Mikelson, or perhaps her sister Dahlia or even— _god forbid_ —his wife Eva. The thought of any of those women being back in the Quarter and he could feel a migraine coming on.

He finally stopped in front of _Joe's Sippin Whiskey_ -the power wafting out the front door was so thick it was nearly tangible.

Full of foreboding, he warily entered and quickly absorbed the fact that he didn't know who the hell this witch was. And the closer he got to her, the more intrigue and apprehension battled for dominance.

She was tiny...maybe a sneeze over 5 feet with fine bones and soft curves all covered in caramel skin that clearly enjoyed the Louisiana climate-if its moistened glow was any indication. She sat there, seemingly unaware of the effect her presence was having on the patrons in this small dive. The humans could only interpret it as the magnetism of a beautiful woman and found themselves turning away from their conversations to discreetly glance in her direction at irregular intervals. The two werewolves and the vampire present were a different story; for they knew exactly what she was. And while the wolves were curious, wary and more than a little bit aroused, the vampire—one of Marcel Gerard's own—was practically channeling Pavlov's dog.

The bartender was serving her a drink by the time Vincent sat down. A quick glance to the salivating vampire in the corner and he knows that Marcel hearing of her is a forgone conclusion. He knows how this looks. It looks like the Regent of the Nine Covens is meeting up with some mysterious heavy-hitting witch in the middle of the Quarter.

She says his name and Vincent returns his attention to her.

"I feel like I'm at a disadvantage. You know who I am, but I don't know who you are."

From her profile, he can see her lips curl into a small smile before her head turns to face him and...

He's known many beautiful women, many beautiful witches but he can honestly say that he's never seen a face like hers before. The mystery witch was striking. Her chocolate brown hair had been pulled up into a chignon, leave her face on full display. Large feline-shaped eyes that were olive green in color, high cheek bones, a proud nose and full lips that curved at the corners. A story written across more than one continent gave birth to this dark faery of a woman who made a compelling argument for the beauty of asymmetry. The glowing skin he'd spied on entrance was even more lustrous upon closer view. Vincent resisted the urge to find out for himself if it was truly as soft as his brain and his libido promised it was.

And that was from the neck up.

As his gaze drifted lower, he was greeted with a feast of lip-bitingly sensual dips and curves. Her breasts were ample in the oversized white tank top she wore and the small leather pouch tied around her graceful neck lay between them. Her small waist flared out into generous hips encased in skin tight jeans. And he already knew that was definitely an _ass_ she was sitting on.

Constantly navigating a Cold War between witch and vampire had apparently caused Vincent to ignore one undeniable fact:

He needed to get laid.

Badly.

By the time he returned to her face, her smile had grown into a full toothed grin as her eyes laughed at him. As if she could hear his silent assessment.

"I'm Bonnie Bennett."

She almost laughed out loud when the record scratch of recognition bloomed on his face. _Yes, that Bonnie Bennett_ , she confirms silently. Where once he looked like he was making a valiant effort to resist pouncing on her, now he looked a bit constipated. Constipated and alarmed. She can see him trying to process the magic that's rolling off of her, factoring it in with the knowledge of who she is, and what she's capable of doing. He'll begin insisting that she get the hell out of his territory in 3...2...

"Look, I don't know why you're here and I don't care. But we don't need the trouble that you being here will bring," he says. He's already signaling for a drink.

She watches him drink his courage and she sympathizes. She can recognize the feeling that's been bouncing off of him from the moment he entered. This man is a reluctant leader. Taking the reins out of fear that no one could or would do the right thing for his people. Driven by a desire to protect them as well as the humans around them from the bloody, entitled machinations of vampires.

She knows that feeling very well, thank you.

He's locked in conflict with one of the most powerful vampires this side of the Atlantic and now the Bennett Witch has landed on his doorstep. A spark dancing around a powder keg.

A spark that drinks bourbon.

She watches as his eyes keep darting back to the hard-on with fangs watching them from the corner. She knows he's heard their exchange. She knows that he will tell Marcel that she's here. She knows that Marcel will lash out at this Regent. She knows that this entire thing is working on poor Vincent's very last nerve.

She decides to help him.

Turning on the barstool she stares openly at the vampire, flashing an inviting smile while her eyes draw him to her.

"What are you doing?" She can hear the alarm in Vincent's voice.

"Keep drinking your drink," she murmurs as her prey accepts the invitation. He's a young vampire. A baby really. Turned too recently to be considered anything else. He's cute in a forgettable sort of way, with dark brown hair and eyes to match. She ignores the small voice that says he reminds her a great deal of Jeremy.

Vincent tries not to stare as Bonnie swivels toward the vampire now seated on the other side of her. He watches as she becomes a picture of coy smiles and soft touches. Vincent hears the vampire say his name is Donnie and then the sexiest, most promised-filled chuckle rumbles of the Bennett witch. He hears her make an adorably lame joke about how their names rhyme. And then he feels it.

Her magic.

While Bonnie smiles and flirtes, shyly regaling young Donnie with a tale about her vampire best friend and a teddy bear, her magic has begun to uncoil itself. Unseen by the naked eye, he felt it lift away from her shoulders and glide down her arms begin to slither up and around the hapless Donnie. Curious, Vincent concentrates his thoughts on Bonnie, attempting to touch her with his mind.

His ears are instantly filled with sound. Bonnie's voice, murmuring and muffled floated along the magic that flowed from her and surrounded Donnie. Vincent couldn't make out the words themselves, but the tone, the structure, the repetitiveness of it left no doubt:

Bonnie was chanting.

Whatever spell this was she was weaving around the vampire, Vincent hadn't seen it's like before. Donnie was completely engrossed, fumbling through an attempt at being charming while recounting how he was turned. Bonnie laughed, her hands never straying far from her target. If she wasn't touching his forearm, her hand was on his knee or brushing imaginary lint from his shoulder until finally she was simply holding his left hand in hers. Vincent couldn't help but look around the bar. The two witches and clueless vampire remained unnoticed. The wolves were already closing out their tab and leaving, having no desire to be around for whatever they could preternaturally sense going on. Vincent couldn't blame them. Hell he wanted to go with them, if he was being honest. The humans remained as oblivious as ever.

And yet Bonnie chanted on, winding her spell tighter and tighter. The density of the magic surrounding the witch and her mark was beginning to set Vincent's teeth on edge. What was she doing? When would she pull taut the trap she was clearly laying?

"Donnie, do you understand what I'm saying?" She gently stroked the back of his hand with her thumb.

"Yes." He seemed mildly confused. That, combined with his now dilated pupils and faraway voice, could only mean…

She was compelling him.

"That's good," she continued. Her voice was velvety smooth, with a huskiness that drew the vampire in until he leaned so far over their foreheads touched. Bonnie reached up and began stroking his cheek. "I need you to do something for me, Donnie. Do you want to do something for me?"

"Oh hell yeah," he exhaled.

" _Good_. Now when you walk out of this bar, you are going to forget you were ever here. You're going to forgot you ever saw me or my friend. You're going to forget even knowing my name. Do you understand?"

"How on earth could I forget you?" He was doubtful, almost child-like beneath her caress. His face had even fallen into a rather adorable pout.

Bonnie rewarded him with a 100-watt smile as she wound her magic more tightly around him. "Oh, I'm sure you could if you put your mind to it. Right?" The volume of her internal chanting spiked briefly as she pushed more of her will into the spell.

"Right". He suddenly felt firm in his ability to please her. He grinned as she lightly patted his cheek.

"Good boy. Now go home and get some rest and forget all about me." And with a sharp tug, she pulled her magic back herself leaving behind a completely disoriented vampire.

"Whaa…"

"Oh I completely understand if you have to go, it _is_ such short notice," she assured him, completely shifting gears.

"Um…yeah…you know how that goes…"

"I sure do, so I won't keep you. Have great night."

"Yeah," he slid off his bar stool "I will." He laid two twentys on the bar and made a bee-line for the door.

Bonnie watched him until he left and then turned her attention back to an openly gaping Regent.

She frowned. "What?"

"What do you mean 'what'? You just compelled him!" Vincent was all tension and harsh whispers.

"And you're glad that I did, aren't you?"

The witch sighed, his shoulders sagging under an invisible weight. "Look, I know you don't give a shit about what's going on here, but I do." He began massaging his temples. "We're in a standoff. The vampires are spoiling for a reason to pop off and so are the witches. If Marcel finds out that a Bennett witch is here…"

"I get it. But I'm looking for something. I know it's here and I'm not leaving until I find it. So unless you want to help me…"

"No. No way and absolutely not-"

"—then the longer I stay here the more likely I am to be discovered." Her jaw was set. The warmth in her eyes, manufactured for Donnie, was gone.

"What are you looking for?" he asked quietly, unable to keep the worry at bay.

"Treasure."

Worry becomes apprehension. "What kind of treasure?" He's fidgeting. Bonnie thinks he may have inkling about what she's looking for. But then, there's only a few things here a witch of her caliber would be looking for.

"Oh nothing big," she says. "It's about this long," holding her hands a foot apart "it's made of bone and it comes with some _really_ _funky_ side effects." You'd think she was asking a store clerk for help in a hardware store.

Apprehension has become dread. "What do you want with Tunde's Blade?"

"I don't want it. I need it."

"Why?"

"Because my daddy always told me that to catch big fish, you need big bait. Terrible fisherman really but the logic is sound."

She looks at him pointedly and waits for him to put two and two together. When he finally does, she can feel him relax slightly. "You really think you can do something about that?"

Bonnie nodded.

Vincent's nodding as well, absorbing the fact that she isn't there to intentionally turn the Quarter upside down and shake everything and everyone loose. "Ok...Ok...I know where it is...but you can't have it."

"And why is that?" She's really developed a distaste for the word _can't_ when it relates to her. She's been told she couldn't do something so many times and yet the reasoning has never been good enough to stop her. She doubts that it will be good enough now.

"Because it's been inside the chest of Klaus Mikelson for the past 7 years."

Bonnie blinked. Hard.

And Vincent is nodding again. As if each movement of his head is cementing both the truth of the matter and the theme park of problems it presents.

Bonnie pinched the bridge of her noise, shaking her head slowly in disbelief.

" _No_... _fucking_... _way_..."

Next up:

Chapter 1: Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil

A/N: This is my first fan fic and I plan to draw from canon in both shows while adding a few of my own ideas about S8, so be gentle. If you like it, blame **Anastasia-G** for encouraging it. And if you hate it...well...blame her too :-P


	2. Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil

**Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil**

" _Time is a storm in which we are all lost._ _Only inside the convolutions of the storm itself shall we find our directions." – William Carlos Williams_

Three hours and several shots of bourbon later, Bonnie sat behind the wheel of her car. Vincent had _definitely_ needed to unload. As Regent, he wasn't afforded the opportunity to confide in others very often. Too many agendas, too many ears straining to hear the slightest note of weakness. There was no one to tell how he'd arrived at this point, let alone offer suggestion on how to move forward. And moving forward was all he wanted, Bonnie mused.

The Quarter was locked in a war of attrition.

The Mikaelsons had fallen victim to prophesy.

" _So several centuries ago, Elijah founded this secret society of vampires called—"_

" _The Strix, yeah I know." Bonnie had moved them to a booth and asked the bartender to send over a bottle._

" _Wait…how do you know?" Vincent was smiling. The more Bonnie drank, the more she played with her hair. Right now she was removing the last of the pins in it, massaging her scalp with her fingertips._

" _I just know, ok? Move along."_

" _But how do you know?_

 _Bonnie's hands slapped down on the table. "Look,_ _that_ _story is even longer than_ _this_ _one." A waitress walked up, pad in hand. The name Lottie was pinned to her chest. "Do you serve gumbo here?" the witch asked._

 _Lottie looked like she was trying to figure out if this chick was crazy or stupid._

" _Right…sorry…I forgot…even the gas stations probably sell the stuff," she muttered._

" _Yeah they do. But only tourists are silly enough to eat it," she whispered conspiratorially; each word peppered in sarcasm._

 _Bonnie ordered two bowls and motioned for Vincent to continue._

" _Anyway…two of Elijah kids Tristan and Aja—who was also Elijah's ex-girlfriend…"_

 _"Please tell me she didn't look like Elena Gilbert." Bonnie's eyes rolled heavenward._

" _Who?"_

 _"Aww…bless…"_

 _Vincent knocked back his drink. "I dunno what this Elena looked like, but Aja was this tall, sexy ass chocolate bar of a vampire."_

" _Why do men always have to use food to describe black women?"_

 _"Because we want to eat you, that's why."_

 _Bonnie opened her mouth to respond…but nothing came out._

" _Anyway," Vincent continued, "Aja was bitter and she was justified and she wasn't anywhere near as bad as Klaus's dumpster fire of an ex Aurora. Now_ _that_ _one was crazy as a bitsy bug. She killed and turned Klaus' girlfriend, one of my best friends, Camille—"_

" _Klaus had a girlfriend? Like a_ _real_ _one?"_

" _If by 'real' you mean was he in a loving supportive relationship that didn't involve manipulation, blood and death? No."_

 _Bonnie snorted._

" _But I have no doubt he cared for her very deeply."_

" _Considering the last time I saw Klaus he was trying to break up teenage romances, I'll just take your word for it." The idea of Klaus and a girlfriend—a human at that—was just…weird. Bonnie had been witness to his wooing of Caroline; the dresses, the jewelry, the drawings…the whole thing had been creepy. She'd sat nervously on the sidelines waiting for the other shoe to drop on that mess…and how could it not? How does the most unanimously feared supernatural on the planet go from slaughtering villages, breaking 1,000 year old curses and living a fairly Keyser Soze-like existence, to sketching horses and going to high school dances? It would have been a disaster waiting to happen if he'd been successful_.

 _And guess who would have been put in charge of disaster relief?_

 _Fortunately, it never came to that. Caroline was not Elena. While she may be tempted to dip her toe into the dark side occasionally, she was never the type to dive in and do laps. Fucking Klaus in the woods may have scratched an itch and ended her and Tyler forever, but Caroline would never have been able to withstand the kind of darkness that Klaus brings. It was against her nature. Whether human or vampire, Caroline remains the same: a flower that can only bloom in sunlight._

" _Ok, so The Firstborns Club decided to stick it to their parents," Bonnie picked up, moving Vincent along._

 _"Yes. Me, Marcel and Davina Claire—"_

 _"Who?"_

" _Davina Claire. She was Marcel's witch at one point. She was this Harvest Girl that he rescued from a Reaping. Loved that girl like she was his own," Vincent shook his head ruefully. "We all got pulled into that circus and when the smoke cleared, Davina had severed Klaus' sire line._

" _Niiiiiice" Bonnie drawled, impressed. "So if Klaus dies, he's not taking anyone in his sire line with him?"_

" _Yep."_

 _Good to know._

" _Davina breaks Klaus' line but the ancestors are still pissed at her for straddling the fence when it comes to bringing vampires to heel and they were still sore about the Harvest. So they hexed her boyfriend Kol Mikaelson—"_

" _Hold up. Kol Mikaelson got staked and burnt to a crisp in my best friend's house over 10 years ago. Last I saw of him, he was on the Other Side before it collapsed."_

" _Maybe so, but he's been dead two or three times since then."_

" _Can I tell you how distressing it is to find out that he and I have that in common?" Bonnie pours herself another drink as the gumbo arrives._

 _Vincent almost asked her to explain that comment and then thought better of it. "Kol is hexed and it won't lift until he kills Davina. He tried everything in the book, to avoid it. Even convinced her to dagger him. But the ancestors weren't having it so they undaggered him and he ended up draining her dry."_

" _Where were you during all of this?"_

" _Me? Oh I got nabbed with the Mikaelson's eldest sister Freya—"_

" _I'm sorry…what?"_

 _Vincent sighed. "Freya is an extremely long story and it still won't make any sense."_

" _Fair enough." Bonnie grabbed a chunk of bread from the nearby basket and began dunking a piece into her bowl._

" _We got nabbed by Klaus' first childe Lucien. He dragged us to Mystic Falls and wanted me to perform Esther Mikaelson's Original spell on him."_

 _Bonnie's mouth dropped open. "You're kidding," she whispered._

" _Nope and not only that, he wanted a remixed version of the spell since he included the venom from all of the werewolf packs. So he ends up with all power of an Original vampire_ _and_ _he's got a bite that can take out everybody, Originals included."_

 _Bonnie chewed her food thoughtfully. "So why didn't Lucien just kill Klaus?"_

" _Because like father like son, that's why. None of these assholes know how to just cut to the chase on anything. No, they'd rather drag shit out just because they can. Like the end of that third Lord of the Rings movie."  
_

" _Amen," Bonnie cackled._

" _So there's enough of the serum for the spell for a second dose. Lucien gives it to Aurora while I'm running around with Marcel and Kol trying to figure out how to resurrect Davina before the ancestors get a hold of her and turn her soul into confetti." Vincent quieted, hovering over the memory._

" _We almost had her. We were so damn close. But then Elijah double-crossed everybody and she was gone for good."_

 _Elijah double crossing somebody? Say it aint so. Bonnie thought bitterly._

" _I don't think I'll ever forget the sound of her screams. She was so young. Still a child in a lot of ways. And to top it off, Lucien bit Camille to stick it to Klaus so now they were both gone. And Marcel took it all as badly as I knew he would."_

 _Bonnie studied the Regent. "You two don't sound like friends, but you were at least allies. What happened?"_

" _He and I disagree on a lot of things. But the one thing we agreed on was that the Quarter was being ripped apart by the Mikaelsons and their bullshit. We needed to get rid of them. All of them."_

 _Bonnie is suddenly reminded of the terribly named Jonathan Gilbert device._

" _Lucien gave Aurora the serum. But she was incapacitated before she could complete the transition. So I extracted the serum from her and gave it to Marcel."_

 _Bonnie quirked an eyebrow._

" _Desperate times called for desperate measures," was his reasoned defense. "But Freya received a vision of Marcel taking the serum and killing Klaus; so Elijah took matters into his own hands and ripped Marcel's heart out."_

" _But Marcel had already taken the serum," Bonnie surmised. You could always count on Elijah Mikaelson turning into Captain Save-A-Hoe and making a bad situation completely untenable._

" _Right. So with all the betrayals, and being treated like a red-headed step child by his 'family' and the deaths of Davina and Cammie…Marcel was done. He bit Kol and Elijah and sentenced Klaus to an eternity of pain and suffering courtesy of Papa Tunde's blade."_

" _Ha! Bastards had it coming."_

" _Yeah they did. But all of that broke something in Marcel. He had never been particularly cruel before, but after he sentenced Klaus…He pretty much became all the worst parts of the hybrid and unleashed his rage on vampires and witches alike. I reclaimed the Regency after the ancestral link was severed—"_

" _Say what now?"_

 _Vincent took another drink. "After Marcel rescued Davina from the Reaping, the ancestors started taking a more active role in the affairs of the living. Punishing with this air of absolutism that made being connected to them just as bad as living with vampires. The nine covens were stuck between the Mikaelson shitshow and the ghosts of witches' past. And the ancestors…it's like they died and then forgot how_ _complicated_ _it is being a witch, especially in the supernatural world. How nothing is ever black and white no matter how much we need it to be. They forgot compassion and they made their descendants suffer because of it._

" _And after what they did to Davina—that they could do that to one of their own…I couldn't take it anymore. I found a dark object my wife made. It housed a tremendous amount of mystical energy. Enough to sever the link. So I travelled to the Ancestral Plane to detonate it._

" _But Davina…even after everything she went through in life, after everything she suffered in death…the fragments of her soul that remained, kicked my ass off the Plane and she detonated the device herself. Link severed."_

 _Vincent dropped his head, but Bonnie still saw the tears that welled up and coursed down his weary face. She knew all too well about the manipulations and punishments of dead witches. She remembered the tortured screams of her Grams and she reached out, clasping one of Vincent's hands and waited for his eyes to meet hers._

" _Well done." Her voice was thick with memory._

 _Vincent nodded, squeezing her hand in shared understanding. Bonnie poured them both a drink._

" _So now I'm just trying to keep everyone safe. Human…witch…vampire…I don't care. If they need protection from Marcel's reign they have it. And Marcel isn't so far gone that he's willing to force the issue. We keep to our own and don't try to tip the balance. Which is why you being here and wanting the blade is a problem."_

 _Bonnie chewed her bottom lip in thought. "Yeah…I get it."_

" _But you're still going after the blade."_

" _Yes. As I said, I need it."_

" _Ok, say you get it. Klaus will still be desiccated even after you remove it. You don't have to wake him."_

" _No, I don't". Her tone was light, eyes never wavering._

" _But you're going to, aren't you?"_

" _Yes."_

" _Why?!" Vincent barked in a harsh whisper. "Niklaus Mikaelson walking the earth after all of that isn't going to do anybody any good."_

 _Bonnie sat back and folded her arms, pinning Vincent with a look that brooked no argument._

" _Because Klaus Mikaelson is over 1,000 years old. Because despite current evidence, he_ _is_ _one of the most powerful supernaturals on the planet. Because he can be useful to me. And because—as you said—desperate times call for desperate measures._

" _I've only been in this city a few hours now, but I can tell that you all are used to be insulated. You don't realize how bad things can get out there. But let me tell you; if I don't do this, none of this shit is going to matter anyway._ _Not a bit of it_ _._

" _Now I_ _need_ _that blade and that hybrid in my possession before tomorrow night and I_ _will_ _have them. Will you help me or not?"_

 _Vincent absorbed her words. He wasn't entirely out of the loop. He'd heard the rumblings about something having been released into the world all those years ago. Whispers of a growing threat the likes of which no one, living or undead could fathom. An increase in human casualties…solitary witches disappearing…the forming of an army…_

" _Why by tomorrow night?"_

" _It helps you if I'm gone as quickly as possible. But more importantly, I'm going to wake a hybrid that's been desiccating around that blade for the past seven years and tomorrow night is the full moon. I need to get him out and secured at my place before then because I seriously doubt he's going to have to strength to stop his transformation." She'd have to drive the rest of tonight and all day tomorrow, but she could make it._

" _What reason do you have to believe that Klaus will help you? What's to stop him from coming back here and raising hell or worse, teaming up with whatever's out there?"_

 _Bonnie leaned forward, bracing her forearms on the table as a mischief curled her lips into a smile. "In all my dealings with Salvatores, Mikaelsons, Parkers and St. Johns over the years…I've learned one valuable lesson:_ _Leverage_ _is a very powerful weapon in the right hands." She looked down at her empty bowl and over to Vincent's equally empty one and frowned before signaling for Lottie._

" _Can we get a couple more bowls of gumbo, please?"_

 _BKBKBKBK_

Vincent gave her the directions to Klaus' location along with answering all of her additional questions regarding the fall of House Mikaelson. All of it could prove useful. All she'd wanted upon finding out about the existence of Tunde's blade was to get it. The dark magic that created it was alarmingly potent. The hybrid it was in, equally so.

Big bait, indeed.

Bonnie pulled her car up to the gates of Marcel's Garden. The story behind this place had been worthy of a chuckle. Here was to be his and Rebekah's first love nest. But Klaus plus Mikael equals abandoned Marcel and he turned this place into a prison for any vampire that betrayed him.

Vampires are such drama queens. Fact.

She checked the time on the dashboard. 12:00 am. According to Vincent, Marcel assigned guard duty once Klaus became an inmate. There were several shift changes throughout the day; vampires with daylight rings were for daylight hours and vice versa. However, between the hours of 12:00am and 1:00am there was no one here. Originally, Marcel designated that hour for his visits. He'd wanted complete privacy and with his Original-like status, he didn't require protection or assistance. However he visited less and less over the years until he stopped altogether.

And he hadn't bothered to adjust the guard rotation in the meantime.

A whispered incantation and the iron gates slowly opened, allowing Bonnie to drive through. She had one hour. One hour to get Klaus out of his tomb, loaded in the back and on the road. Depending on your perspective, she either had plenty of time or not enough.

As she drives through the property, searching for her destination her recalls a quote she heard during one of her English classes at Whitmore College.

" _Time is a storm in which we are all lost._ _Only inside the convolutions of the storm itself shall we find our directions."_

It's funny that after her relatively brief sojourn as a college student, that quote is the only thing that readily comes to mind when she looks back on her days at Whitmore. To be fair, there really wasn't a whole lot to look back on in regard to the tiny liberal arts college, not anymore.

Her grandmother had taught occult studies there. While everyone in Mystic Falls thought she was a crazy old drunk lady, she was well loved at Whitmore. Even to this day. In fact the occult studies section of the Whitmore Library was dedicated to her a few years ago. The school administration contacted Alaric in the hopes that he'd be able to find Sheila's wayward, college drop-out granddaughter and invite her to the ceremony. Dr. Sheila Bennett was the frank, dry humored, thought-provoking professor that always had time to discuss comparative beliefs, was first in line for the protest march and had affection for spirits both liquid and non-corporeal. And now there was a lovely sitting area and library section to commemorate her passing.

Bonnie didn't go to the ceremony.

After the Phoenix Stone was destroyed and all hell broke loose (literally), Bonnie packed quickly and was ready to flee. Destination unknown. Caroline was with Alaric and the twins in Dallas, Stefan was god knows where and Damon was in a box. She might have sought out Tyler—he had suggested before that she go with him. Protect the innocent by hunting and tracking evil and all that.

She probably should have taken him up on it.

But that would have meant addressing the elephant in that particular room: Jeremy.

He'd dropped out of art school and joined Tyler on the road after Elena went to sleep, and while they didn't work together all the time, Jeremy was around enough that the idea of being on the road with the strain of all that was between them...

The irony of a prison world being the punctuation to the run-on sentence that was their relationship was not lost on Bonnie. To even try to define it became uncomfortable at best and blindingly frustrating at worst, like being caught in a Chinese Finger Trap.

So yeah...the third installment in the Road Trip film series: The Hunter, The Witch and the Wolf was just never going to happen.

And that was fine. After everything that both Tyler and Jeremy had gone through, they'd earned the right to set out and meet the world on their own terms. To do what they believe is right, without concern for whose boyfriend it was going to upset...or maim.

She only wished she'd realized she'd earned a right to those things sooner.

"Better late than never, I guess," she whispered, pulling herself from her reverie.

Looking back, it was amazing how quickly all of their lives had gone from the mundane to the maniacal. All because two brothers decided to come home.

Guess they were one of those convolutions of the storm.

So was Enzo for that matter. He snatched her out of her dorm room just as agents from the Armory came for her. Took her to his hideout and kept her safe for three years. At first he said he did it because he wanted to know why his family wanted her so badly. It wasn't until much later that she realized the truth for herself.

He was just as alone and abandoned as she was.

And at what feels like the end of the world, all anyone really wants is a connection.

They grew to love each other. It was easy really. They were both so starved with the need to matter to someone. To be more than a friend, more than family…just… _more_. Enzo's heart was large and he was just waiting to fill it with the right person.

She hated that she understood that feeling.

She hates feeling like she's still waiting.

Bonnie pulled up to the section of the property she needed and parked. Climbing out of the car, she marched through the Garden, making note of what appeared to be several recent additions. Looking around she could see that far too many had run afoul of Marcel Gerard over the years. Was he trying to give the Phoenix Stone a run for its money?

She entered what appeared to be the dilapidated foundation of the main house and there it was, as big as day. Vincent said that Klaus had been entombed in the shadow of what would have been the staircase. She stopped before the bricked up wall and read the plaque affixed to it:

 _Here lies Niklaus Mikaelson._

 _Father to no one._

Oddly enough her last conversation with the hybrid had been about his own father.

She was the Anchor at the time and the Other Side was beginning to collapse. While trying to figure out how to stop it or if that was even possible, she'd gotten a phone call from Klaus Mikaelson himself.

" _Hello, Bonnie." The man could read the phone book and make it sound like a proposition._

" _Oh God, what do you want?" The universe really knew how to pile it on sometimes._

" _Now is that any way to speak to an old ally?"_

 _Emphasis on_ _old_ _. "We have never been allies."_

" _Not in the traditional sense, no. But we have worked in concert on more than one occasion."_

" _What do you want, Klaus?"_

" _I require your expertise for a certain matter that has arisen-"_

" _Nope. I've got a lot on my plate right now, and even if I didn't, I wouldn't help you. Never again." She couldn't hide the tension in her voice. Sure she could use words like nope and never, but this was Klaus. If he wanted her to do something, he'd figure out a way to make her do it._

 _They all did._

" _No cause for alarm, love." He soothed. "I only require consultation, not application."_

" _You live in New Orleans. There isn't a witch around to help you with this?"_

" _I have a witch. A fairly powerful one. But she lacks your experience on the subject."_

 _Bonnie chewed on her bottom lip and pressed the phone closer to her ear. "What is it?"_

" _My family and I have been receiving visions of my father. They present as too real to be ignored. And the fact that we are all experiencing them leaves no room for coincidence."_

" _So you want to know if these are magically induced or if you need to see a shrink."_

" _Precisely."_

" _Yes."_

" _To which?"_

" _Both. Yes, these are magically induced and yes, you need to see a shrink."_

 _The warm laugh she received unnerved her. "I'm working on it, love."_

" _I do not want to know what that means."_

 _Another laugh._

" _I'm glad I amuse you. Look, long story short: Due to some ridiculous shenanigans involving doppelganger blood and a bunch of Travelers, the Other Side is beginning to collapse and disintegrate. My ancestor drew on a lot of power in order to create the Other Side in the first place, and the Travelers basically used me to damage it, like hitting glass hard enough to make cracks but not shatter it. The energy the Other Side is made of is now bleeding through those cracks and supernaturals on either side can use that energy to make contact."_

" _And you believe Mikael is using this energy?"_

" _Mmm…probably not Mikael. My money's on that rotten ass mother of yours. I mean, I admit don't have any personal experience with this, but I've seen that when a mother wants to strike fear into her children the first thing she tells them is…"_

" _I'm getting your father...or some variation."_

" _Ten points for Slytherin. Aside from visions, I don't know how much damage Esther can do from over there considering what's happening, but the Other Side is going down, Klaus. And anyone still over there when it goes is getting sucked into oblivion anyway. So these visions could just be an annoyance that's ultimately moot."_

 _Klaus was quiet. Bonnie imagined that he was mulling over her words, trying to find a flaw in her reasoning._

" _Caroline told me that you died resurrecting Gilbert the Younger. And that your ancestor Qetsiyah was able to bring you back by making you the Anchor to the Other Side."_

 _Bonnie waited to see where he was going with this. "Your point?"_

" _If the Other Side is destroyed, what happens to you?"_

 _And there it was. The first person to finally ask that question since this whole Traveler fiasco began and it's Klaus Fucking Mikaelson. Bonnie bites the inside of her cheek, fighting the tears that want to well up at the sadness of that fact._

 _Her lack of response is all the response he needs. "Ah…and so goes the House of Bennett. Pity." She finds it strange that she hears no mocking in his voice._

" _My cousin is still around. And she was always much better at avoiding those 'slings and arrows' than I am."_

" _Yes, Lucy Bennett is quite the competent witch and a winning creature besides. But she is no Bonnie Bennett, now is she?"_

 _Shit. After five years of wall-to-wall supernatural bullshit, the only person to even acknowledge all she's done is Klaus Fucking Mikaelson. Her eyes squeeze shut, but she can't stop the tear that falls. She needs to get off this phone. Now._

" _Yeah I'm sure you'll miss me," she snarks, clearing her throat._

" _Probably not. But I do wonder what will become of the world once its last true champion is no more."_

 _That did it. "Goodbye Klaus."_

" _Goodbye Bonnie Bennett."_

Bonnie hung up the phone and cried herself to sleep.

That had been the last she'd seen or heard from Klaus. Sure there were some things the Mystic Falls gang got wind of such as him becoming the baby daddy of that wolf girl Tyler used to hang out with. She wondered briefly where she and the child were now.

Pressing her hands to the bricks, she reached out and through with her magic. She feels it pass through brick and mortar, spreading out into the space beyond it. She feels it brush against the size and shape of the hybrid. She lets it glide over his form to inspect it.

He is completely desiccated. But it feels like he's been at this much longer than seven years. _Much, much longer_. Like "if Katherine Pierce had actually been in that fucking tomb" long. _How was this possible?_

The Blade.

"Ol Papa Tunde really pulled out all the stops for your ass, Klaus." She muttered. "Let's see if we can do something about that."

Bonnie got to her knees, pressing her palms flat against the earth.

The main reason the area of Mystic Falls has been a hub for magical activity so many times over the years is simple. _Ley lines_. Fissures in the earth that bleed magical energy. Supernaturals are instinctively drawn to it.

A reservoir of that kind of energy can create wonders. That energy helped create The Originals. It helped break the Moonstone Curse. It tried to help Bonnie kill Klaus—thanks Elijah—and it helped create an Expression Triangle. And those were just the highlights. Ley energy is raw, powerful and indiscriminate. And New Orleans, Louisiana had a shit ton of it.

Mystic Falls was a bathtub compared to the ocean that was beneath the Big Easy.

Bonnie wouldn't have to break a sweat.

Her magic reached down, through the earth, feeling the elements pass through. She felt the life that teemed within every root and low creature. There was a network of trees nearby that was about to fall victim to blight. She pulsed a healing spell in its direction and continued her journey down. Deep and deeper until she felt the icy hot tingle of what she sought.

Ley energy. It was like holding pure light. Raw, malleable power. It called to the witch in her. Tempted her to dive into its depths and simply float along…

Bonnie inhaled deeply and focused her thoughts on the wall before her. Pulling up the ley energy she let it mingle with her magic, charging it up, before pulling it all back along the path she'd taken and aiming at the wall before her.

Bonnie began to chant.

One by one, each brick began to disintegrate into dust. Faster and faster they fell before hitting the ground with a gentle _booof_ of dust cloud. Bonnie coughed at the air before releasing the ley energy back into its reservoir. She waved her hands before her to clear her vision and looked up into desiccated face of Niklaus Mikaelson.

He had been strapped upright into a gurney of some sort and he definitely looked like he'd been desiccating for longer than seven damn years.

She used her magic to pull the gurney free from the hole she'd created and angled it horizontally before her. She checked her watch. 12:32 am. Twenty-eight minutes before fifteen vampires show up for duty.

She was cutting it close.

Removing a small pocket knife from her waistband, she pierced her left index finger. Trying to figure out how to get her magical lubrication into his sealed shut mouth made her feel like Dorothy Gale holding an oil can in front of the Tin Man. _If he only had a heart_.

The sooner she got even a minuscule amount of blood into his system, the easier it would be to get that bone blade out. She placed two fingers on his shriveled and cracked lips, pulsing just enough magic to pry them open slightly. She then laid her still bleeding finger on his mouth and let her blood drip into it.

She'd picked up a cooler's worth of blood bags on the way here but she had no intention of fully reviving him just yet. Better to do it in increments and save herself the headache until she got him home. Removing her finger from him, she rubbed it against her thumb, sealing the wound shut and waited.

The last time she stood over a desiccated Klaus she was contemplating what to do about him. Alaric had been turned into an Original Hunter at that time and was intent on destroying him. And after 1,000 years of terror, he certainly deserved it. But with his death, went the lives of people she loved. What was she supposed to do about that?

Bonnie watches as once again, Klaus Mikaelson's eyes open.

And history repeats.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks so much for the reviews! I'm taking the advice to heart. There wasn't a lot of Klaus in this chapter but there will be plenty more from the next update on out.


	3. Highway to Hell

**Highway to Hell**

" _It's so hard to forget pain, but it's even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace."_ _-_ _Chuck Palahniuk_

Over the past thousand years or so, Niklaus Mikaelson had developed a rather sophisticated palate when it came to pain. Sophisticated enough that he could withstand it in some forms and thoroughly enjoy it in others. Its current form however...

Indescribable.

The beauty of Tunde's blade is that while the bone itself burrowed into one's chest, the magic it held burrowed into the entire being. It ripped into the soul, laying all secrets bare and then twisted them. It settled on the mind and projected long kept fears in high definition. And once all had been stripped down to its rawest form, it would then writhe and thrash creating a violent sensory assault that can only be described as _pain_. And yet that word seems so small compared to the agony it left in its wake.

Because the blade's full effect isn't immediate, there is a struggle to hold on to who and what you are. To grit teeth and believe that sheer force of will can become a buffer, a shield...

An exercise in _futility_.

Fighting against the blade's effects only increases its savagery. And so a part of him is grateful when he loses track of _when_ and _where_. Best not to mark the time and place when he finally gave up and gave in to the blade. Gave into it so completely that he forgot his own name.

When he opens his eyes, he knows that he is no longer drifting in his personal sea of torment. And yet he cannot entirely be sure. He can't _move_. He can _barely_ see. What little blood has been introduced into his body can hardly sustain it. Perhaps he has not been freed. Perhaps this is yet another elaborate ruse meant to draw out his suffering.

Gathering what little strength returned, Klaus turns his head to the side and is now even less sure of his reality. In spite of the fact that his heightened vision has yet to fully return, he recognizes the face of the woman sleeping beside him. It's unmistakable really. Always has been.

 _Bonnie Bennett._

The tiny witch is sleeping on her side and she is pressed against him in a confined space, yet he cannot feel her. He can't feel anything. In fact the last time he felt this _frustrating_ numbness...

Desiccation. He's been desiccating.

Turning his head forward, he now knows rather than feels that he's lying on his back. _How long had he been under?_ He'd growl in frustration but his vocal cords are still petrified, much like the rest of him. Although his eyes are adjusting more and wait...was this a hearse? Was he in the back of a bloody _hearse_?!

He turns his head towards the witch again. This is her doing though he cannot fathom why. If she has jeopardized anything.. _.endangered his family in any way_...

She _will_ give him answers.

Or he _will_ take her head.

 **BKBKBKBKBKBKBKBKB**

 _One levitation spell and a slammed door later and Bonnie was hauling ass out of the Garden, dirt flying from beneath her tires. She floored her Baby the moment she hit the highway, wanting to put as much distance between herself and Marcel as possible._

 _While committed to her purpose, she could not ignore the magnitude of what she'd just done. It was something that could only be described with titles in order to adequately measure the weight:_

 _The Bennett Witch just stole the Original Hybrid from the King of New Orleans._

 _Bonnie drove into daylight._

 _She finally pulled over at mid morning, eyes bleary and closing on their own. She found an off-road and parked in a small clearing. After grabbing a blood bag from the cooler, she made her way to the back of her 1958 Cadillac Superior. Yes, it was a hearse._ _Yes_ _, it was her Baby. She and that car had survived too much for it to be anything else._

 _She opened the back door and climbed in, careful not to jostle Klaus. As desiccated as he was, she was amazed that pieces of him hadn't broken off in clumps of dust just getting him into the back._

 _While occasionally a sore spot for her, she was now glad that she was small. Small enough to climb inside and with a little space left to work. Klaus was long and broad but there was still a little room left on either side of him in the rear compartment. His eyes were open but unblinking, the whites scaled over. She stood hunched over him for a moment before settling into a rather indecent looking squat._

 _Grabbing her pocket knife, she sliced through the front of his shirt, revealing his grayed and petrified chest. The blade was completely enveloped. She put her knife to the side and began rubbing her hands together, summoning her magic._

 _Considering the awfulness of that blade, he shouldn't notice this at all._

 _With her palms together and pressing down with the tips of her fingers, she seared her way through the hybrid's chest, her magic burning a path through his sternum until she felt the blade._

 _Tunde's magic tried to rebel the moment she wrapped her hands around it. She was elbows-deep in hybrid and the blade wanted to put up a fight._

 _She pulled hard, straining against the dark magic stubbornly keeping the damn thing in place. Her forearms felt as if they were on fire as dark magic lashed out at her. Papa Tunde had created this torment specifically for the hybrid and now that it had him, it was a part of him._

 _Bonnie ramped up the flow of magic through her hands and put her back into it as she struggled, her body shaking from the strain._

 _"You...let...him...go!" She gritted out as she felt the blade begin to move, breaking away from the calcified home it had made for itself. Bonnie gathered all of her strength and with one hard yank, the blade dislodged, sending her stumbling backwards into Baby's closed back door._

 _Leaning against it and breathing heavily, she looked at the curved bone clutched in her hand. Its magic was already beginning to retreat into itself._

 _"Gotcha, bitch," she huffed, reaching over the hybrid for a small box near his hip. She opened it and dropped the blade onto a bed of black salt before closing it._

 _Crawling back over to Klaus, she straddled him, popping the cap on the blood bag. She slowly began to pour its contents into his still open mouth. With the blade now gone, the blood should be more effective. She stayed hovered over him until the bag was empty. Once it was, she squeezed herself into a space next to the hybrid._

 _She hadn't slept in nearly 24 hours and extracting the blade had taken a toll on an already tired body. Glancing at her watch, she knew she could afford a couple of hours of sleep before hitting the road again._

 _"Two hours. I can stand being this close to you for two hours."_

 _She set her watch and drifted off._

 **BKBKBKBKBKBKBKBKB**

The witch had been out for quite a while before the alarm on her watch sounded. Klaus watched as she lifted herself up from her place beside him and gingerly crawled her way across his body and out the back of the hearse, stopping only to grab a small wooden box. A few moments later and she was driving.

Whatever blood she had given him had begun to work in earnest while she slept. His hearing had returned and his vision had sharpened; but he still couldn't move and when he tried to speak, only a death rattle came forth.

Her sleep had been troubled and periodically, she'd mumble nonsense before falling silent. At one point he was certain she was having a nightmare for she tried to shift restlessly within her confined space, her breathing erratic, and heart fluttering. She called out sorrowfully to Stefan's disaster of a brother and some bloke named Enzo.

He suspects she hasn't had a peaceful night's sleep since discovering she was a witch.

When the hearse is suddenly flooded with the music of Sarah Vaughan, Klaus is reminded that he actually knows very little about Bonnie Bennett.

He remembers the first time he saw her. It was at her high school. His witch Marcus had transferred his consciousness into the body of the doppelganger's history teacher, Alaric Saltzman. The Gilbert girl had arrived with the little witch in tow.

As deeply as he'd felt for Tatia, her doppelganger did _nothing_ to stir him. Whether Katherine or this Elena, the doppelganger was a means to an end and the only pleasure he'd receive would be from her blood spilling in the name of his liberation. The _witch_ on the other hand...

She was _lovely_. A diminutive creature full of innocence and vigor. His sources informed him that she had come into her powers only recently. He'd known his fair share of Bennett witches and it was clear that both their power and their beauty had been amplified in their youngest descendant. With her long chocolate brown curls catching the breeze and caramel skin bronzed by the sun, making her large green eyes sparkle; you needn't be supernatural to know that this girl had _magic_ in her veins. What she lacked in height, _and she lacked quite a bit_ , she more than made up for in the dips and swells of her curves. It was one of life ironies that a face that pure presided over a body that sinful. If she managed to avoid irritating him with her attempt to thwart his plans, he _might_ take her. While Greta was useful, her presence in his bed was beginning to stale.

 _"I can't believe they signed over the house to you," Bonnie said._

 _"Well it makes sense. Now no one can get in without an invitation. I'll be safe there," Elena reasoned._

 _"Of course it makes sense...I just have to wonder..." Bonnie hedged._

 _"Wonder what?"_

 _"What_ _aren't_ _they willing to do?"_

 _"I don't know. But that's a good thing, right?"_

 _Bonnie's brow furrowed. "I don't know. It just makes me nervous."_

 _"Bonnie you're always nervous. Stefan loves me and he just wants to keep me safe."_

 _"Damon loved Katherine so much he was willing to unleash a tomb full of hungry vampires on the town just to get her out."_

 _"Stefan is_ _not_ _Damon, Bonnie" Elena responded, her voice firm._

 _Bonnie chewed her bottom lip and nodded, "Yeah...I know..." She laughed nervously, "I'm just being a worry wart."_

 _Elena threw her arm around Bonnie and laughed "I_ _know_ _. It's why I love you."_

 _Bonnie bumped her best friend with her hip, smiling. "That better not be the only reason."_

Klaus had observed that exchange and several others throughout the morning. The witch had been on edge for most of it, taking up sentry duty next to Elena. She remained on high alert, eyes darting, bracing herself to defend at a moment's notice.

The doppelganger remained _unbothered_. What need did she have to worry when everyone in her circle was doing it for her? The air of self-assuredness irked him. Which is why he compelled one of her classmates to drop his name to her as a gentle reminder that _everyone_ needed to worry about Klaus Mikaelson.

They fled the school immediately.

The next time he saw the Bennett witch, she was tossing Damon Salvatore across a room. A picture began to form. With those unwavering green eyes and steel in her spine, the baby witch _insisted_ that she "could take him." He found it admirable... _naive_...but admirable. He had waited centuries for the moment his curse would be broken and no wet-behind-the-ears witch with a power boost and a death wish was going to stop him.

So when she confronted him at the high school and threw everything she had at him only to die on a cafeteria floor, he relished the removal of his most troubling obstacle, while mourning a missed opportunity.

Having a Bennett witch in the fold would have been a boon. _Especially_ one that tempting. As a witch and a lover, Greta had been more than willing and more than satisfactory. But Bennett witches...there was something about that blood line...the witches born of it tended to be capable of the impossible. He wondered what this one could have done given time.

He found out when she rained hell on him several days later.

She'd come striding out of trees like an avenging goddess. Alive and well and hell bent on vanquishing him. When he'd endured her onslaught while within Saltzman, Marcus had cast multiple protection spells on him to act as a buffer. So he hadn't felt the full effects of her power.

The night of the ritual was another story. And it is a story that has bothered him ever since.

With all of her power unleashed, he knew he was going to die. For one eternally long second he was sure of it. He would never acknowledge that fact to anyone, but he knew it. And more importantly, _she knew it_. Were it not for Elijah, he would have died and taken her with him.

Knowing what he knew about her heritage, he'd still managed underestimate her. An error he would never make again.

He finally gained what he thought was a complete picture of the Bennett witch the night she broke Esther's linking spell. He had harangued her for most of the day, even threatened to kill both her wayward mother and the doppelganger's little brother. Unsurprisingly, she completed the spell with ease.

When he escorted her through his house and showed her what Rebekah had done to Damon Salvatore, he was curious as to what she would do. He taunted her. Appealed to her to rescue the vampire that killed her mother. He expected her to do just that but he hoped that she would vent the rage she clearly held for Salvatore, for his viewing pleasure.

Instead, she asked him to show her the door.

He'd been disappointed. Disappointed she hadn't saved Salvatore or killed him...he wasn't sure.

It wasn't until after he'd closed the front door behind her and heard her erupt into tears moments later that he began to understand.

She'd called the doppelganger. Told her what had happened and suggested Stefan come and collect his brother. After she ended the call, she _crumpled_ like a dying leaf falling from a tree. He watched her small body convulse, as if it couldn't contain her grief and rage. She clapped her hands over her mouth, trying to jam them down, keep them from escaping...but her anguished sobs still drifted over to him. And for the first time, he felt a uniquely uncomfortable twisting in the pit of his stomach.

This was a witch with a mandate but no agency.

She was steadfastly committed to _doing_ "the right thing", he knew. But at her age, with her background and a complete lack of support, _knowing_ the right thing was a great deal more complicated for one such as her. The morally binary life she'd led prior to learning of her powers had unceremoniously become fluid...and she was drowning.

And in spite of all those around her whom she called friend, there was no one to throw her a life line. No one to even turn around and see her flailing arms as she gasped and struggled for air.

When she heard Stefan's car pulling up, she scurried away into the night and out of his thoughts.

And yet that uncomfortable twisting sensation returned the night she told him about the Other Side.

The space in his chest where Tunde's blade had lived began to throb as he realized, lying on his back more than half petrified, that he'd felt that twisting a third time.

By the time Sarah Vaughan was halfway through _Whatever Lola Wants_ , Bonnie's car had come to a stop and the engine cut off. Klaus heard the back door open and felt sunlight wash over him. Suddenly, he was weightless, gliding out of the hearse and into daylight.

 **BKBKBKBKBKBKBKBKB**

Bonnie was at a loss. After nearly 16 hours of driving from New Orleans to Maryland, she was still no closer to figuring out what she was going to say to the hybrid. They were not friends. They had been reluctant allies at best once or twice, but that was many years ago.

Four years ago, at the height of the Phoenix Stone debacle, Caroline had fled Dallas with the girls to seek shelter with Klaus. But when she arrived in New Orleans, she was told that he hadn't been seen in years.

Now she knew why.

She wished Caroline was here now. If Klaus still harbored any affection for her, it would certainly make all of this easier. Stefan might have been able to help as well. But they were both on the road tracking Damon and Enzo's movements. And they both would certainly have had a thing or two to say about her going rogue and unearthing the hybrid. She hadn't even told them that she was looking for the damn blade in the first place.

It was up to her to sway him. After her conversation with Vincent, she knew she had leverage...incentive for him to cooperate, but she didn't want to have to go that route. She knew what it was like having your hand forced—hell Klaus had done it to _her_ —but, she would use it if she had to.

 _And what if he still says no?_

If he rejects her, there would now be the completely undesirable problem of one of the wickedest, most bloodthirsty supernaturals in existence roaming free, becoming a liability to Bonnie and a potential asset to their enemy. He would return to New Orleans, rip apart the city, and bring unholy hell down on Vincent's head. She didn't want to be responsible for that. While she'd never experienced it first hand, she did believe that witches should stick together. The fact that Vincent and the witches of the Nine Covens weren't Bennetts didn't matter to her. She would protect them from both Marcel and Klaus as much as she could. Which made the answer to the question simple:

If she can't sway him...if she can't get him to see reason, then she will finish the job she started 12 yeas ago: She will _kill_ the hybrid. And with as strong as she is now, her life need not be forfeit to do it.

But for now, she needed to revive him completely. Sundown was in 2 hours and the moon would be up not long after that.

Using her magic to levitate Klaus' prone body beside her, Bonnie grabbed her cooler and the box now holding the blade and began to walk towards what has been her home for the past three and a half years.

Reaching the front doors, she entered her code on a keypad affixed to it. Once they slid open she levitated Klaus' body inside.

 **BKBKBKBKBKBKBKBKB**

Where the _fuck_ was he?

Once he'd realized that this was the Bennett witch's doing, he assumed that she was taking him to Mystic Falls. However this place...

He turned his head as best he could as he levitated. Was this a library? The hallway she'd taken them down revealed rooms of nothing but bookcases. The hallway opened into a large room filled with display cases of varying sizes. From his vantage point, Klaus recognized _many_ of the items on display, some of them had even been in his possession at one point.

Bonnie led him into a cargo elevator. Klaus thought he might rupture, his frustration was so great. He didn't know where he was or why he was here and the witch wasn't saying anything. She merely stared off into space, waiting for them to reach whatever destination _she'd_ set.

He stared up at her, trying to will her to acknowledge him. _Look at me! Explain yourself!_ He was already looking forward to the taste of her blood in mouth when he was free. Had she become simple? Did she think she wouldn't _pay_ for these indignities? Had she forgotten _who_ and _what_ she was dealing with?

The elevator stopped, doors opening and Bonnie made her way down the hall, Klaus trailing her. They passed what appeared to be a laboratory and further down a training room. Beyond that was clearly a weapons locker. When she finally stopped, Bonnie stood before four holding cells. She entered her code on the door of one of the cells and ushered Klaus inside. There was a bed contained within and nothing else. Bonnie settled Klaus upon it and went to work, fishing a pair of blood bags out of the cooler.

Holding up the bags, Bonnie finally looked down at the hybrid.

"Hello Klaus."

If looks were weapons she'd be dead already. The wrath swimming in Klaus' eyes was potent. She couldn't blame him.

"Look, you have questions and I have answers. But there a few things that need to be taken care of first. Now I'm going to feed these bags to you. That should be enough to get you up and moving and you can feed yourself with the rest of these," she explained, patting the cooler with her hand.

"You may not be fully aware of this fact yet, but tonight is a full moon. So you're staying in here until tomorrow at least. Whether you're in here longer than that depends entirely on you."

She sat on the bed and popped the cap on the first bag and inserted the tip into his mouth. This feeding was more uncomfortable than in the car. Klaus could _see_ her this time. He was awake _and_ aware. He glared at her, daring her to meet his eyes as he drank.

With a sharp intake of breath, she straightened her spine and returned his gaze. _Times have changed, hybrid. That girl you terrorized and bullied is long gone. And what's left will fuck you up._

Once the second bag was empty, Bonnie stood and made her way to the door. As she opened it, she heard him move. Turning around, she saw he was slowly sitting up, reaching for the cooler. His skin was already less hardened, less gray. The movement of muscle and sinew more evident.

The hybrid cleared his throat. "Where am I, witch?" Though gravelly and rough and thick with anger, his words were clear.

"This is my home," she said simply. "Formerly known as The Armory."

She closed the door behind her.  
_

A/N: Thanks for the reviews and follows! This fic is going to be quite a few chapters so expect a slow burn from Klonnie. They've got a lot of work to do.


	4. Solitary

**Solitary**

 _"Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying." - Arthur C. Clarke_

Klaus stretched out as much as he could on the small bed after finishing the last of the blood the witch left behind. The sweet elixir had worked in earnest. Every sense was now needle sharp. It pumped through his veins…restoring him, _strengthening_ him. He marveled at how he could have forgotten how _good_ it felt to be him. And when that familiar twinge began in his lower back, he _knew_ it was about to feel _even better_.

It had always disappointed him that the hybrids he'd created during his time in Mystic Falls, viewed the gift he'd given them as a relief from the pain of transformation; a chance to _shun_ the wolf. He had never been raised with a pack; had only shifted once before Esther levied her blasted curse. But he still reveled in being a werewolf. To be a beast cloaked in the human condition…and to now be able to drop that cloak at will. The pain was a gift. An offering to the forces that govern the realms of the living. A reminder that life is transitory. And that the werewolf was the living embodiment of that fact.

As he felt the pressure build in his joints and the first snapping of bone that followed, he decided that before he passed sentence on the Bennett witch…

He would thank her.

When he awakened the next day, he was face down on the concrete floor. The coolness was a relief against his over-heated skin. Though he'd been unable to roam the wood; to hunt and tear and howl, it had been a good shift. A _much needed_ shift. His body felt new… _refreshed._

 _A_ s he stood, he rolled and flexed his muscles, reintroducing himself to his own body. Feeling the power within him, expand and contract with each breath. He looked around the ridiculous hole the witch had deposited him in and flexed his fingers, imagining how they would feel wrapped around the her delicate neck as he squeezed the life out of her for her…

 _Insolence?_

 _Disrespect?_

She'd freed him from the nightmare of Tunde's blade and yet her manner offended him. He knew she hadn't done it out of the kindness of her heart. He also knew that that the witch, _that witch in particular_ , would never call on him unless she had no other choice. She wanted something. _Badly_.

But the aloofness…the _audacity_ …to be carted about like cargo and thrown blood bags as though they were sardines and he a sea lion. It was like…

 _Like you carted your family around for centuries?_

Klaus brushed the thought aside and made his way to the door. She had unlocked it at some point in the early hours as it now lay open, allowing him access to the hallway where a change of clothing, two towels and note sat on a nearby chair.

He picked up the note and scanned it before crumpling it in his hand:

 _Found some clothes that I think will fit._

 _The showers are down the hall and to your left._

 _I'm outside._

 _B._

Klaus gathered the bundle in his arms and made his way down the hall.

The shower had been invigorating. While he had desiccated on more than one occasion, this time felt much longer than it could possibly have ever been considering his liberator. He found that his hands lingered on himself; arms…neck…chest…a brief gripping of his manhood…thighs. All this to cement the reality that he was indeed himself again.

He dried and dressed quickly, irritated that the jeans and t-shirt the witch provided felt a hair too large and were appallingly common.

 _What was the witch up to?_ She said this was formerly The Armory. He'd known of the organization for well over a century; and yet he could not help but notice that this place was completely empty of personnel. He focused all five senses to their finest point and detected no one else. _Was she truly here alone?_

Retracing the path they'd taken the day before, he found the cargo elevator and ascended.

 **BKBKBKBKB**

He found her standing in a field out back. The compound was large with the Armory headquarters flanked by smaller buildings. The sun's current position told him that it was midday and Klaus couldn't help but pause for a moment and allow its rays to wash over him like a favorite memory.

When he finally reached the witch, she turned to face him and he was finally able to take her measure.

She was older than he remembered, naturally. The plumpness of adolescence had burned away, fully revealing the beautiful line of her jaw, the height of her cheekbones, and the length of her neck. Though hardened and haunted, her eyes were as he remembered: large and feline and a most curious olive green that brightened to hazel or darkened to emerald depending on her mood, if he recalled.

She wore a pair of dark grey loose fitted linen pants, but the outline of her hips and the swell of her ass was apparent along with her ironically long legs. Bare feet with toes painted blood red peeked out from beneath the hem. The white fitted tank she wore revealed smooth skin that absorbed the rays of the sun and glowed, the red and golden undertones on full display. Her ample bosom rose and fell with a calmness reflected in her stance.

But, it was her _scent_ that gave him pause. Bonnie Bennett hopped up on the power of one hundred witches smelled like fire: smoldering embers sweetened by cinnamon and grounded by pepper. The Bennett witch sans the one hundred was earthier, bringing to mind dark moist soils and spring rains. He even recalled the sickening, cloying sweetness that had clung to her once she embraced Expression.

But _this_ …this was different. The earthiness was there, the burning embers present as well, but there was a _weight_ to it. A heaviness that never neared oppressive. If he didn't know better he'd swear the magic running through her was older than even he himself. _Who was this witch?_

 _Damn it._ When Bonnie turned to face Klaus, she was promptly reminded that vampires had apparently cornered the market on eugenics. Was there even _one_ unfortunate face in the bunch? The years, along with spending the past day dealing only with his desiccated remains, caused Bonnie to forget that the hybrid is handsome. Handsome in the _worst_ kind of way. The boyishly, unassuming, intent on being your favorite _mistake_ kind of way. His hair was still wet and it looked like the clothes she'd found were a bit too big, but here he was in the disarmingly charming flesh. His dimples weren't on display and his full lips were drawn into a grim line. The indigo blue of his eyes was nearly black. He _radiated_ anger.

 _Wow he's mad_ , Bonnie mused with smug satisfaction at the thought. The feeling wasn't new. She'd felt it last night in his holding cell. And before that, she'd felt it as he glared at her from the wrong side of a barrier she'd put up trapping him with the smoldering remains of his brother. And before that, she'd felt it while standing in a storage unit looking down on his desiccated body; his eyes attempting to burn holes into her skull-just as they were now.

There was no way around it: Bonnie Bennett _liked_ being able to piss Klaus Mikaelson all the way off and still _live_ to tell the tale.

He stood several feet from her and Bonnie hoped it was a good sign that his hands hadn't immediately wrapped around her throat demanding that she explain herself.

"Explain yourself, _witch_." His voice had fully returned and it was strange to hear after all these years, even if each word spoken was wrapped in barbed wire.

"I figured depending on how this conversation goes, we might need a little _space,"_ she replied, flippantly. She'd been out here most of the morning thinking about how to approach this dialogue. She wasn't Stefan and she wasn't Caroline. She didn't _know_ him.

She only knew what he was capable of.

"Like I said, I know you have questions, so we might as well get those out of the way first." Her magic was oscillating beneath her skin ready to defend at a moment's notice.

"How long?"

"About seven years. Though I believe the effects of the blade increased that number for you."

It had. Entombed less than a decade and yet he'd been fully prepared for her to blurt out some ridiculous triple-digit number.

"Where is my family?" Klaus' jaw was clenched so tightly it was a wonder he hadn't shattered it along with his teeth. He braced himself, knowing that her answer would either break her or break him.

"All I know is that Haley Marshall loaded up a semi with your daughter and your siblings and took off for parts unknown. For now, I can only assume they're still out there."

"And your reason for waking me?"

"I needed the blade. I didn't know that Marcel Gerard had sentenced you to it."

Klaus shifted his stance, folding his arms across his chest. "And why pray tell would you need it?"

Bonnie started shaking her head. "No, I'm not telling you that-."

He was on her in an instant. Hand wrapping around her neck. Squeezing.

 _Here we go._

A large pulse of her magic burst from her sending the hybrid flying several feet backwards into the dirt. She dropped to one knee from the sheer force of it. Klaus was on his feet and charging again. She threw up a barrier between them and smirked at the sense of déjà vu.

" _One_ : _Don't touch me ever again_ ", she gritted out keeping her own anger at bay. "Two: I have no problem explaining the current state of affairs to you. But we are _not_ talking about that blade. I can't afford to have anyone know that I have it or why. Just know that while your family _might_ be safe now, they won't be for long…none of us will."

The barrier was up and holding. Klaus leaned forward, pressing his forehead hard against it, ignoring the searing pain of the action.

"This had better be good."

Bonnie released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Four years ago, the vault the Armory was built upon was opened and the entity inside released. I've spent almost that long here trying to figure out how to stop it."

" _Why_ was it released?"

"Are you going to try and kill me again?

"I haven't decided…yet." The dimples finally made their appearance, but his smile was downright murderous.

"Fair enough," Bonnie muttered as she lowered the barrier.

It wasn't until the barrier was gone that she realized how closely they were now standing. His shirt brushed against her as he loomed; eyes boring, smile still in place and she was enveloped by his presence. One thousand years of life and power wafted off the hybrid in much the same way her magic did her. It had always been overwhelming and for moment, she is suddenly a teenaged girl in his study; feeling the walls closing in on her as she stands in the shadow of Klaus Mikaelson.

But then she remembers that she's stood in the shadow of many. And that while she is still here, they are either dead, gone or have gotten their heads out of their asses. She decides that _this_ will be no different.

She squares her shoulders and stares back at him. "We should head back to the house. One or both of us is going to need a drink." She stepped around him and started walking.

 _My, but this witch has spirit_. It isn't something he hasn't known. He's certainly been on the receiving end of it on more than one occasion. His anger is still firmly in place, but after so many years of not seeing her eyes grow hard and dark as emeralds with it, one can't help but appreciate the sight and savor.

This witch has _grown_. She stands in defiance now without fear where once she stood in spite of it. And she is fearless not because of some assurance of affection or necessity, but because she is firm in the belief that she will not _allow_ him to harm her. The _boldness_ of it is imprinted in every detail of her face…

And it's breathtaking.

And then she's offering drinks and walking away.

He falls in step with her as she continues. "Seven years ago, the Armory tried to bring me in. The head of the organization at that time was a woman named Alex St. John who also happens to be a distant relative of my boyfriend Enzo. She was trying to bring me in because back in 2014, her sister Yvette got trapped in the vault and her other sister Virginia got my cousin Lucy to spell the door so that no one could get in or out. Virginia then killed Lucy to make sure that no one broke it."

Klaus quirked an eyebrow at this detail, but said nothing.

"Enzo managed to keep me under the Armory's radar for three years by giving me these pills that suppressed my magic. But we didn't know that the pills were made using the blood of the hunter, Rayna Cruz and that prolonged usage was fatal. There was no cure."

 _Exactly how many times has this witch been at or beyond death's door?_ Klaus wondered.

"The Phoenix Stone had been destroyed by this time and all the vamps contained within it escaped in all directions looking for any and every vampire body to inhabit. So Damon and Enzo made a deal with Rayna. If they killed all of the Stone's escapees, then she would agree to transfer her last remaining life to me."

"Her _last_ remaining life?" Klaus knew the legend of this hunter. He knew that she was initially linked to eight shamans which sustained her.

"Yeah," Bonnie sighed. "Damon killed her a bunch of times before we found out about her link to the Everlasting."

"Of course," Klaus couldn't hide the disdain that dripped from his voice at the name of the elder Salvatore.

"Anyway, I was fading fast. Too fast for them to kill all those vampires in time. So Damon made a deal behind my back with Alex St. John. If the Armory got rid of Rayna's vamps, I would open the vault."

They re-entered the main building and Bonnie led them to a nearby staircase. Klaus took in the expanse of the Armory as he listened. He'd known that this organization founded by humans was committed to acquiring supernatural items by any means necessary but he was a bit surprised at how extensive a collection they'd procured. Just with the cursory glances he's had since he's been here, he can identify items he once believed forever lost.

He followed Bonnie up the stairs to the second floor as she explained that she had been dead set against opening the vault after being warned by her cousin's murderer of its contents.

"If this Virginia knew the vault shouldn't be opened, why didn't her sister?"

Bonnie paused in front of a door. "Some weird form of cognitive dissonance, I guess? She couldn't believe that there was something powerful and dangerous trapped in there while at the same time believing that her sister had managed to stay alive in there for years with no food and no water. People are willing to do all kinds of mental gymnastics when it comes to the ones they love." A wry smirk appeared as she opened the door to her quarters and ushered him in.

The space was large. Whoever the previous occupant had been requested an open floor plan featuring a large fireplace, a sitting area complete with oversized furniture and a king-sized bed which sat atop a raised platform. Bonnie had covered nearly every flat surface in the room with scrolls, grimoires, journals, notes, maps…the witch had been doing quite a bit of research.

"Sit wherever you want," she offered as she made her way over to a small bar. Klaus watched as she poured two glasses of what appeared to be single malt scotch. It was then that he realized that something was missing.

His anger.

Somewhere, between the moments she removed that bloody barrier and now, his anger at the witch had dissipated. He quickly replayed all of her actions to this point in an attempt to stoke that fire again, and came up empty.

She had disarmed him.

Less than an hour ago he was prepared to end her life and now here he sat. In her bedroom. On her couch. Drinking her surprisingly good scotch. Enjoying her company. _Well done, little witch_ , he mused.

Bonnie plopped down in the chair across for Klaus. _He's listening_. She knew that he had put aside his ire by the relaxed way he now sank into her couch, one arm thrown across the back and the other swirling his drink around in his glass.

"Anyway, Alex was smart enough to know that just because Damon made the deal didn't mean that I'd follow through so…"

"Who did they take?" He remembered that the witch's willingness to bend for the sake of her loved ones had practically been stamped on her forehead for all to see.

"Caroline and Alaric."

"Naturally," he nodded, a bemused smirk playing around his lips.

"So as soon as I got them, Damon and Enzo out, I threw up a barrier around this whole building and that should have been the end of that."

"I would be _disappointed_ if it were, love"

"I _know_ ," she mouthed.

"Anyway, it turns out Rayna was not the 'forgive and forget' type when it came to Damon, so she neglected to inform him that the transfer of her link to the Everlasting included her hunter's curse.

"Brilliant."

"Enzo tracked down the shaman that performed the transfer and found out that to break the curse, the Everlasting had to be destroyed. And guess where he was cooling his heels?"

"The Amory."

"Right _fucking_ downstairs," Bonnie grimaced. "So Damon gets Caroline's girls to siphon away my magic from the barrier. He manages to get in and destroy the Everlasting just in time to stop me from plunging a stake through Enzo's heart."

Klaus looked up. "Wait…this Enzo is a _vampire_?"

"Yeah…so?"

"Oh nothing. I just find it amusing that the noble, self-righteous Bonnie Bennett deigned to sully her good name by becoming romantically entangled with the monsters she's fought so hard against."

"I guess that just speaks to the kind of person Enzo is, now doesn't it?"

Klaus's eyes narrowed. "Get on with your story, witch."

"Right," Bonnie sighed, rolling her eyes. "When I transitioned to hunter, I lost my magic and it didn't return even after Damon destroyed the Everlasting. And then Damon didn't come back from the Armory. Enzo went after him and then…they were just gone." She stared into her drink.

"What was in the vault, Bonnie?" She had grown quiet, getting lost in memory as it drew her out of _this_ moment and into a past she could not change. He found he didn't like it.

Bonnie shook herself from her reverie, returning her attention to the hybrid. "All the records I've found even vaguely describing this thing's M.O. don't actually give it a name. The closest translation I have is that it's some form of supernatural blight. But it's _sentient_. It has consciousness. Bonnie rose from her chair and came to join Klaus on the couch, settling herself on the opposite end.

"This thing can invade a body...devouring it from the inside out. Your mind, your heart, your soul. Once you've been hollowed out, you basically become a vehicle for it to get around. It burns through humans quickly. No one human can hold it for very long so it will inhabit multiple humans at the same time until their bodies wither and die from the strain. It can inhabit supernaturals for much longer periods with the added bonus of having access to their abilities. It's been inside of Damon and Enzo for the past 4 years, keeping their bodies alive by continuing to feed on human blood.

"So Damon and Enzo are dead?"

Bonnie stilled, her glass almost to her lips. "I'm not ready to believe that yet," she said quietly before draining its contents.

Klaus studied her. "Would this be an example of those mental gymnastics you mentioned earlier?" He asked gently.

"Touché," Bonnie offered, ruefully.

She watched as the hybrid rose, taking her glass from her and walked over to the bar. He poured refills for them both, clearly ruminating over her words.

"What do you think it wants?" He asked, returning to her.

"A body. A permanent, powerful body. Caroline and Stefan have been tracking Damon and Enzo's movements and it looks like they've been rounding up solitary witches."

 _"Solitary?"_ Klaus scoffed "Whatever for?" The hybrid was aware of the fact that a solitary witch wasn't nearly as powerful as a witch who'd either belonged to a coven or was born into a family of witches. If he were in the market for a new body, he would not select one from their number.

"There is a innate magical bond that exists between a coven or family of witches. It strengthens their magic. It _protects_ them and keeps everything else out. It's like a witch's version of herd immunity. Solitaries don't have that. They're easy pickings," Bonnie explained.

"Then its acquiring these solitaries for another purpose. Perhaps to aid it in finding its true prize," Klaus was on his feet again. This entity was in the market for a powerful, unencumbered supernatural and who was more powerful than _he_? The witch's interference may have pinned a large target on his back, he thought grimly.

"I'm a solitary witch, Klaus.

That stopped him. "Don't be absurd, Bonnie. You're a Bennett," he scoffed, brushing the notion aside.

"I'm not _a_ Bennett. I'm _the_ Bennett. When Lucy was murdered, the bond between us dissolved." Bonnie tried to stop herself from remembering feeling the bond the night she'd first met Lucy. She'd nearly been overwhelmed by the feeling of magic, blood and kinship with a total stranger. It was wonderful. And such a relief to know...to _feel_ that she wasn't alone after all. That she had a family beyond her Grams and her never there father. Lucy had turned on Katherine Pierce and helped her save Elena. And she'd done it simply because they were blood.

A few hours later, Lucy walked away and Bonnie never saw her again.

Klaus absorbed her words. The Bennett bloodline was older than even himself. Many, including himself had profited from having a Bennett witch their back pocket. And just as many responded to their deaths with a certain flippancy...including himself. Their dwindling numbers convinced many that they could be replaced with more plentiful though less valuable options.

And now there's only one left. One with a tremendous amount of power and she was more than likely sitting at the very top of a very short list of potential residences for some ancient squatter. The witch was simultaneously a potential threat and a potential victim. The very idea was unsettling.

"Your mother-" he offered.

"-Is no longer a witch, _remember_?" The bitterness in the witch's voice was undeniable. And just as it had during their conversation regarding the Other Side, the uncomfortable twisting in the pit of his stomach returned. This was _wrong_. He did not care for the witch, but as one who appreciated the priceless, who understood the enormity of dynasty; the notion that the last scion of the greatest bloodline to ever exist—could be devoured and used in such a way _felt_ wrong.

His eyes narrowed. "Why are you bringing this to me?"

Bonnie started up at him from her seat. "Obvious reasons are because you're the Original Hybrid and all that that implies. And because for this, I'd prefer you an ally rather than an enemy. The not so obvious reason, is because you tried to help stop me from completing the Expression Triangle. You were able to look past your own self-interest and look at the bigger picture. You'd be surprised at how many are _completely_ incapable of doing that."

"Oh I'm quite aware, love."

"Good. Because this isn't the big picture, Klaus. This is the _only_ picture. If I can't stop this thing, it will take me. And then it will take _you_. And then it will take everyone you hold dear in that walnut you call a heart right along with _everyone_ else."

Klaus closed his eyes, accepting the truth of her words. "You have a plan?"

"Mmmm...more like the _bones_ of a plan," Bonnie replied, rising from the couch to stand before him. "So what do you say Klaus? Do we take this back outside...or are you Team: Save the Witch, Save the World?

A/N: I hope you're enjoying this and thanks so much for the reviews and follows! _**Anastasia-G**_ : Your second review made me blush like a fool and you're right, I do want this to feel like a culmination of sorts. I also have to thank you for your first review because your words really came in handy with this update. The first draft of this required a lot of self-editing because I found myself trying to put everything in at the same time, when my goal is to build. _**MoceJo:**_ Your "sexy as hell badass hybrid stealing witch queen" made me laugh out loud because that's exactly what I want her to be here.


	5. Living Arrangements

Living Arrangements

It had been two weeks since the witch revived him. Two weeks since she had explained that she intended to lure this _blight_ she pithily referred to as "Bob" back here to subdue it long enough for it to be trapped. She had learned that whether in its natural state or housed in a host, _Bob_ could not be killed, only contained. They agreed that the vault was not an option as its permanence had proven itself questionable. They needed to find another way.

" _Why on earth would you name it Bob?" he'd asked. They were standing in the kitchen as Bonnie made herself a cup of coffee._

" _It's something I picked up from Damon. If someone frightens me, I give them a goofy name. It diffuses the fear. Makes them seem beatable."_

" _And what did you call him?" the hybrid asked, amused by the notion. He placed a mug of O-neg in the microwave and set it to 30 seconds._

" _Crazy Eyes," she replied._

" _Stefan?"_

" _Frowny Face."_

" _Elijah?"_

" _Captain Anal." Bonnie took a sip of her coffee before adding a touch more cream._

 _Klaus chuckled. "Do I dare ask how you referred to me?"_

 _The witch grew quiet as Klaus watched a rather lovely blush bloom in her cheeks. She mumbled a word._

" _Didn't quite catch that."_

" _Dimples."_

" _I beg your pardon?"_

" _Dimples! I nicknamed you Dimples." The rosiness in her cheeks had now spread to her entire face._

 _Klaus glared at her sternly. "You shall never refer to me by that name again, is that understood?"_

" _Sure thing," she answered brightly, walking out of the kitchen and muttering "Dimples" as she disappeared from sight._

 _Klaus found that he couldn't hold back the small smile she'd produced or the dimples that accompanied it._

She continued to explain later that both she and Bob were apparently working two halves of the same goal.

" _On the night of August 27_ _th_ _of this year, a comet that only passes by every 133 years will arrive. I want to harness its power in order to trap Bob. I believe that Bob intends to use the solitaries he's been gathering to do the same."_

" _But in order to acquire you instead."_

" _Right. A bunch of solitaries is one thing. A bunch of solitaries channeling a celestial event is quite another._

" _So whether to capture or be captured, this Bob is bringing his army here in a little over two months?" Klaus didn't like the sound of that. "And they could lay siege well before that."_

 _Bonnie nodded. "We need to figure out a way to trap it and we need to figure it out fast."_

Klaus glanced out his bedroom window and saw the witch in the garden below picking sage and lavender. Her "pet" trailed behind her, shoving its muzzle into every bush she passed. He had chosen the room next to hers and she had shown him the storage rooms on the third floor, most of which contained a wealth of clothing the Armory had collected over the past century. The quality and fit of the items he'd selected for himself had been a pleasant surprise.

 _Celeste_ , as the beast was called, had been a rather unpleasant surprise.

 _He had just finished showering and wrapped a towel around his hips, when he walked into his bedroom to be greeted by a Great Dane growling menacingly at him. The beast was all black, save a white blaze on its chest. Klaus saw its back legs bending, preparing to leap._

" _You must be joking," he scoffed, mildly insulted that it did not recognize the alpha in the room._

 _Its ears laid back as growls became snarls._

 _"Woahwoahwoahwoahwoah!" Bonnie called, running down the hall before skidding to a stop in his doorway. "It's ok, Celeste," She soothed, "I won't let that mean hybrid hurt you."_

 _Klaus didn't bother to hide the incredulous look on his face as he watched the witch crouch down to the animal's level, running her small hands across its head. The bloody thing was almost bigger than she was and yet it submitted to her gentle ministrations while eyeing him warily, grumbling lowly._

 _"What on earth is that?"_

 _"What does it look like?_

 _"It looks like a potential pelt."_

 _"Oh I wouldn't try that if I were you," she advised. "Isn't that right, baby? He don't want it with Celeste. No sir." Her cooing was making Klaus' eyes cross._

 _"It's a_ _dog_ _, love. Hardly a threat to anyone except perhaps_ _you_ _."_

 _"You wouldn't be saying that if she bit you."_

 _"And why is that?"_

 _"Because one bite from her and you'll likely die of the knife wound that anal fissure you call a father gave you a thousand years ago." She scratched behind the animal's ears. "You know those labs in the basement? They're part of the weapons division. And Celeste here is a product of the weapons division." Hearing her name, she began bumping Bonnie with her massive head._

" _According to her file, the Armory found a witch to create a spell similar to the reversal spell those Travelers used on Tyler. The one that stripped him of his hybrid status." Klaus remembered feeling quite smug upon Bonnie's telling of the ingrate's fate._

" _Celeste was their test subject," The witch continued. A little science, a little magic and she's got a bite that's dangerous to all supernaturals_ _and_ _she can smell magic." Bonnie wrapped her arms around Celeste and hugged her._

" _She can_ _smell_ _magic?" Klaus was displeased. To think that humans had developed the capability to create a weapon such as this without his knowledge…He glared at the animal as it attempted to tongue bathe its mistress._

" _Yep. Vampires, witches, werewolves, magical items, the whole lot. She can sniff them all out. It looks like they wanted to make more like her for going out into the field with agents."_

 _Klaus eyed Celeste evenly. "And you allow this animal to roam about the place freely?"_

" _She's a_ _dog_ _, Klaus. I wasn't going to leave her locked up in the basement," the witch scoffed. It was then that she took eyes off the animal and looked in his direction. The rush of blood to her face and the quick darting of her eyes told him that she only now realized that he was standing before her with only a towel covering him. Her heart rate picked up as she seemed to be searching for a way to exit without her discomfort appearing obvious. But it was too late. She was flustered._

 _It was_ _delightful_ _._

 _Klaus folded his arms across his chest, making sure to flex his muscles slightly. He shifted his stance, allowing the towel to drift open where it was tucked and revealed one of his thighs._

" _Is something wrong, Bonnie?" He swallowed the laugh that threatened to bubble up when she glared at his_ _innocent_ _query._

" _No_ _," she said, as if her answer should be obvious. "I'm just sorry Celeste disturbed you, is all. She usually roams the woods for a few days before coming back." She still wouldn't look at him again and had even started to back out of his room, gently guiding her pet with her._

" _Oh, Bonnie…" he called, stopping her in her tracks. He stared her, willing her to meet his eyes. When she finally mustered up the courage to do so, she gaze back at him; that defiance that pleased him surfacing again in her eyes. Juxtaposed against her furiously blushing face, Klaus couldn't help but smile. Adorable._

" _What?" she spat impatiently._

 _He strolled up to her, wanting her vision filled with nothing but what he displayed._

" _Good Morning."_

 _The witch muttered a "good morning" and fled, practically dragging her foul beast with her._

And so their days had gone. He found the witch to be quite organized when it came to research. She had shown him all of her discoveries regarding Bob in order of relevancy. And she was quite pleased that he was able to translate the texts she'd been forced to forego due to her ignorance of the language in which they were written.

He sometimes found himself watching her as she read. Her brow furrowed, occasionally biting her lip or chewing on a pencil only to hurriedly write down some pertinent info in her notes.

He found he enjoyed watching her quite a bit.

But without fail, that mongrel would appear; as if it felt he had been watching the witch for too long, no matter how discreetly. Since discovering him, the beast had decided to stay closer to home rather than roam the woods for days on end as Bonnie told him was its routine. Now he found the overgrown nuisance everywhere.

If Bonnie was in one of the archives, it was there. If she was in the kitchen fixing a meal, it was there. If he happened upon the witch in the solar doing her morning yoga-bending and stretching so deliciously—there was Celeste, standing sentry nearby like a governess protecting its nubile charge from the rake attempting to call on her. Its ink black eyes, delivering a clear message:

 _Not on my watch, pal._

To be challenged by such a low creature was laughable, deadly bite or no. And so he would move along, drinking in one final look at the witch, keeping only one thought in his mind:

 _We'll see about that._

Klaus listened as the witch and her keeper returned. He heard the light patter of her steps as she deposited her basket of herbs on the island in the kitchen. She opened a cabinet and retrieved an item, followed by the sound of her opening the refrigerator and pouring herself a glass of something. Most likely water. For as capable of drinking as the witch had clearly grown to be, water or tea seemed to be the only non-alcoholic beverages in her favor. He had begun to find such mundane details oddly intriguing when applied her.

It was then that the truth cemented for him.

He was _curious_ about the witch.

Though his ability to read people was exceptional, and he had been able to read Bonnie the teenaged girl easily enough. However _this_ Bonnie only revealed what she was willing to show. She was a splendid conversationalist, being both frank and self-deprecating. She provided thoughtful commentary on anything they'd discovered. And she soaked up knowledge like a sponge.

He found that when she thought she wasn't being observed, she moved with a quiet confidence. Having developed a level of comfort in solitude that he had never acquired. She reminded him of the Trappist monks, keeping silent until there was need for sound.

And at dusk she would go for a walk in the woods. The barrier spell she had placed around the estate extended to the very edge of the wood and so she communed with nature every evening.

Klaus wondered if one day she would ask him to join her on her walks.

He heard the witch shoo Celeste out towards the woods and smiled. Perhaps now he would get somewhere. The witch had shown him many sides, and yet after two weeks he was no closer to cracking the egg that was Bonnie Bennett.

He heard her jog up the stairs and hurry to her room. He waited several moments before leaving his own and heading in the direction of her door. It was open, but he knocked gently anyway. She was walking across the room, gathering her hair up into a messy bun. She stopped abruptly, like a doe caught while drinking from a stream when she heard him. Her eyes wide, hands frozen in her curls. And then she smiled.

"Hey, come on in."

He walked in, hands in his pockets. "Am I disturbing you?" There was a small cabinet against one wall, its doors had always been closed whenever he found himself in her room. But now they were open and Klaus saw that the cabinet contained a small personal altar she had set up. She must be preparing to meditate, he mused.

He was about to make a move to excuse himself when his eye caught something resting on her altar. Something he had _forgotten_. Something he had not _seen_ in over 1,000 years. His eyes darkened. _It can't be…_

"I'm glad you're here. I've been thinking we should—"

The next instant her back was pressed against a wall, his hands squeezing her shoulders. It had happened so quickly that it took the witch a moment to get her bearings.

"I thought we talked about the 'no touching rule' already," the witch pointed out flatly. She stared up at him with an irritated confusion.

"Where did you get that?" He growled lowly, releasing her and pointing to the object on her altar.

The witch glanced in the direction of his finger and a knowing smile curled her full lips.

"Something tells me you already know, don't you? But _how_ do you know, if I may ask?"

" _Answer me_ , Bonnie." A churning had begun to build inside him. _It can't be…_

"I'll tell you mine if you if you tell me yours…"

_

A/N: I know it's kinda short but hopefully the next chapter explains why.


	6. Blood

**Blood**

Many believe that Klaus' fascination with witches stems from a lust for their power. A power he is unable to wield himself. It is true, in part. But what none know, save perhaps his siblings, is that his fascination with witches as well as his admiration of magic goes back much farther and began not with his mother, but with her mentor.

Ayanna.

While his mother's power was undeniable, it was Ayanna who brought magic to life for young Niklaus. Though she'd taught Esther spirit magic and his mother's mastery of it well proven, spirit magic was in Ayanna's blood. It had been part of her family's line from the beginning. And it was why Ayanna wielded it with a grace and artistry that could never be taught and with a compassion that could never be learned. Whether healing the sick, or coaxing new bulbs to break through frost covered earth, or illuminated by firelight while dancing under the moon, Ayanna _was_ magic for Niklaus.

When he was a child of only seven, he found her one night. She was sitting cross-legged on the ground in a clearing not far from their settlement. The moon was high and full and with the stars above, served as her only illumination.

"You should be sleeping, little one," she chided, glancing over her shoulder.

"I cannot sleep," the little boy said hesitantly. He came to stand beside her seated form. She had her altar with her. A great slab of sea stone, beaten and polished smooth by sand, wind and sea. Symbols he could not name were burned into its surface.

"And why is that?" Ayanna looked up at Niklaus and frowned. The boy was gingerly cradling his hand to his small body. She reached for his hand to inspect it and her warm brown eyes darkened to pitch black upon seeing his palm.

"What is this?" The gentle bite in her tone almost made Niklaus believe _he_ had done something wrong.

"Papa was teaching me the bow. I could not get it right and the string cut my hand." The wound was deep, the flesh flayed open, dried blood caking it.

"Did you not show this to your mother?" Ayanna had spent the day with the wolves, tending to several who were afflicted with fever. But Esther was more than capable of tending to a wound such as this.

"Papa would not let her heal it. He said it was to be a lesson." His parents had argued into the night. The pain in his hand and the strife filling his ears had driven him from his bed.

Ayanna swore under her breath in a language Niklaus did not understand. She gently tugged on his arm, pulling him down to sit beside her. She then clasped his injured hand between her own and held them close to her.

Suddenly, he felt a soothing coolness over his angry wound. The gentle sparking of magic flowing deep within it; _cleansing, healing, repairing_. When she released his hand, his palm was as soft and pink as it had been when he'd awakened that morning.

"Thank you," he said, smiling at the wink she offered in return.

He scooted closer to her warm body. "What are you doing out here?"

"The spirits awakened me. They led me here."

"Why?"

"There is something I must do, and it would seem that now is the moment in which to do it," she answered reaching up with nimble fingers to untie the thin straps that hung a leather pouch from her neck. She reach inside and removed a bronze pendant, its detailing rough; as if it had been shaped with crude tools. At its center was a clear stone. So clear that the young boy could see right through to the bronze that held it.

"Is that your tally?" Niklaus asked in wonder. Ayanna wore that pouch constantly, but he'd never seen its contents before now.

"Talisman," Ayanna correction, enunciating the word.

"Is that your talisman?"

Ayanna sighed. "It was. As it was my mother's before me, and her mother's before her all the way back to my great ancestor. She smiled as she placed the pendant on her altar. "But it is no longer for me."

"Is it for mama?" He asked hopefully. He was sure that something of Ayanna's would make his mother's magic prettier.

Ayanna chuckled lowly. "No, little one. I will make your mother a talisman in due time. No, this is for someone farther down the line. This is for my family."

Niklaus frowned. He _loved_ Ayanna. Yet this was the first time she had spoken of family as being something other than his mother and her children. "I'm not your family?"

Ayanna looked at the worried expression on the little boy's face. His blue eyes threatening to start brimming with tears. She smiled gently and cupped his cheek.

"I pulled you from your mother's body, Niklaus. I love you and your brothers and your sister as if you had come from my own. Of course you are family." She unsheathed the small dagger that hung from her waist. "But this," she sliced open her left palm, letting the blood drip freely onto the pendant " _this_ is a matter of _Blood_. Do you understand?"

Niklaus shook his head slowly. As relieved as he was that she loved him and considered him family, there was still a distinction that he could not reason.

"This was my great ancestor's first talisman. The spirits came to her and told her to leave a portion of her magic in it that it may be passed down. And so it has been. From mother to daughter, each leaving a portion when told by the spirits. As I have now been told. It will be complete after this for it can hold no more," she explained as she watched her blood continue to drip freely.

"But you won't have a talisman anymore."

Ayanna scoffed. "I will fashion another, as those before me have done when the time came."

Niklaus nodded, his worries eased. And then he thought of another question.

"Who is the talisman for?"

"The spirits will not show me her face," she said clasping the talisman in her bloody fist and standing to her feet. "But when all has been lost, this will be there for her." She raised her fist to the moon, blackened blood seeping out and streaming down her arm in tiny rivulets. "She will be reminded that no matter what has been taken, no matter what suffering endured…that she is of the Blood. And her Blood, will never forsake her. "

Ayanna looked at the small boy who now stood beside her.

"Now cease your questions, Niklaus. One must be _still_ when magic is afoot."

Niklaus did not need the request repeated as he felt the wind pick up and saw a fire spontaneously erupt in the center of the clearing. He raised an arm to his face as dirt and leaves flew. Ayanna stood with her arm still raised, unbothered by the torrent she had caused. The air was thick with magic. He felt it sparking against his skin as it flew around and past him. It twisted and churned seeming to grow stronger with each revolution. Niklaus had witnessed this expulsion of raw power from Ayanna before. When she'd held back the waters from the spring rains that threatened to flood their home last year.

But this felt so much stronger than that.

And then it stopped just as suddenly as it had begun. A portion of Ayanna's power now locked within the talisman. She opened her now healed hand and he saw that the once clear stone had changed to the most curious shade of green. Niklaus' eyes widened in wonder.

Ayanna dropped the pendant into its pouch. She dusted off her skirts and turned to the blonde haired boy. She ruffled his thick curls with her hand, residuals from her magic sending a tingle throughout him. "Now, you will come to my hut. I will make you tea and you will go home and go to _sleep_. Understood?"

 **BKBKBKBK**

Bonnie growled in frustration. Her eyes were stinging from strain. She had spent the better part of the day pouring over tome after tome. Looking for something, _anything_ that could help her destroy Bob and bring back Damon and Enzo. But there was nothing. Nothing but warnings and no solutions. Not even suggestions.

She slammed the latest dead end closed. A headache was beginning to form. She squeezed her eyes shut and fought the urge to throw the ancient tome across the room. _Two years_. She had been here two years and she was no closer to saving Damon and Enzo that she had been when she got here. Bob was still out there, driving them across the globe, even picking up followers along the way. And still she had nothing. No magic…no solution…

… _no hope…_

She wanted to call Caroline and vent, but she and Stefan had just left here two days ago. Stefan got a lead on ancient text found in a small village in Greece that may contain an account of a battle against Bob. She remembered walking into their room to find Caroline packing.

" _I've got a good feeling about this one, Bon," Caroline assured. She was currently separating hers and Stefan's underwear into piles by color group._

" _Me too. The universe has got to give us a break sometime, right?"_

" _Right. We're coming back with a way to send this thing straight back to whatever hell it came from."_

" _And save Damon and Enzo," Bonnie added._

 _Caroline began folding pairs of jeans._

 _Bonnie saw the tension in the blonde's shoulders as she continued folding in silence "Caroline, and save Damon and Enzo."_

 _Caroline dropped the pair in her hands and turned to her friend._

" _You think they're gone," Bonnie whispered. "You don't think I can save them." The stirrings of a rising panic began to form in her stomach._

" _I don't know Bonnie," Caroline sighed. "But I think it's more than likely that they've been gone all along." Her voice was soft, but that didn't stop the knife sharp sting Bonnie felt at her words._

" _But that's not fair!" The rising panic had begun to bloom. "We get to come back. We've always come back!"_

" _Bonnie—"_

" _No. Answer me this: How many times we come back? How many? How many times have we died or been lost or turned off our humanity in some variation or another? And yet we've always come back."_

" _Bonnie, it's not the same thing—"Caroline's eyes were pleading with her…for what, she didn't know._

" _Yes, yes it is! This thing is affecting their humanity, we know that. So what's the difference between this and all the times that you, or Stefan or Elena turned it off? Did anybody give up on you? Did any stop fighting for you? How is this different from you flipping your switch?"_

" _It's not the same thing, dammit!"_

" _Why not? Because it's Damon and Enzo? One mistreated you and the other annoys you?"_

" _Because there is no fucking switch, Bonnie!"_ _The words came out with such force as to leave Caroline panting. As though she had been waiting two years to say them._

 _Bonnie just gaped at her._

" _Now I don't know if I'm breaking some ancient vampire code I don't know about by saying this, but there it is. This concept of a humanity switch is total bullshit." The blonde vampire sat down on the edge of the bed and looked up at her clearly stunned friend._

" _Not caring about what you do or who you hurt doesn't exist_ _outside_ _of humanity. It_ _is_ _humanity. The darkest most selfish parts of it. We_ _choose_ _to indulge in it and we_ _choose_ _not to. Attributing it to some switch during a moment of distress is a cop out. It's a way to misplace blame. 'It's not your fault, your switch was flipped' or 'I forgive you, your switch was flipped.' When the truth is we know exactly what we're doing while we're doing it and we just don't give a shit. That's about as human as it gets. It's just that no one likes to admit it." Caroline stood and walked over to Bonnie. She felt the smaller woman's shoulder trembling slighting when she placed her hands upon them._

" _This is different because there is no choice," she continued gently. "Damon and Enzo have been invaded. Their humanity is being_ _eaten_ _by something. There's no coming back from that."_

 _Fat tears began to slide down Bonnie's cheeks. "But I can't give up. I can't let them go. I love them. I have to believe I can get them back. If that's true, then this was all for nothing? Everything they've been through, everything_ _we've all_ _been through…just to be snuffed out like that? I can't let them go. I won't."_

 _Caroline smiled sadly at her friend, her own tears beginning to flow. "Me, you, Elena, Stefan, Damon, Jeremy, Tyler, even Enzo…we've all been through so much with each other and done so many things to each other. But you know what we all have in common? An inability to let go. And not knowing when to do so has done nothing but bring us pain. Damon couldn't let go of Katherine and your Grams died. You couldn't let go Jeremy and you died. I couldn't let go of my mom and so many died."_

" _Damon couldn't let go of me and that thing got out," Bonnie whisper, her voice filled with anguish._

" _Sometimes our need to keep the ones we love works out for the good. But we all need to learn when to let go when the stakes are too high. And they're high as fuck right now, Bon._

" _I can't tell you to give up hope. I never would. But you need to at least be willing to accept the very true reality that Damon and Enzo may be gone forever."_

" _How am I gonna get this thing, Care?" She knew her friend's words rang nothing but true._

" _I don't know. All I know is that I'm here to help in any way I can. And that if anyone is capable of breaking their foot off in Bob's ass, it's Bonnie Sheila Bennett."_

" _But how?!" She was desperate. Desperate for a sign. Desperate for something to prove that they weren't all just foolishly marching into oblivion._

" _I don't know. But I_ _believe_ _in you, Bon. I've been through too much with you,_ _seen_ _too much, not to believe otherwise. And as long as your little ass is walking the earth, there's hope."_

 _Bonnie couldn't stop the chuckle that broke through her tears. She wrapped her arms around Caroline and hugged her tightly. "I love you, Care."_

 _Caroline squeezed her right back. "I love you, too, Bon." She looked up and saw her own red tear-stained face in a mirror. "Ugh! God, now I'm all splotchy. I hate you."_

Bonnie smiled sadly at the memory. She looked up when she saw Celeste trot into the archival room Bonnie had been sitting in all day.

"Hey, what are you doing back so soon?" She had let Celeste out to roam when Caroline and Stefan left. She usually stayed gone for at least a week. The wild seeming to appeal to her. She strolled up to her mistress to be petted and once satisfied, began to meander about the room.

Bonnie took several deep cleansing breaths before reaching for another book. "The answers are here," she murmured to herself. "I just have to find them."

She read in silence for a few minutes more when she heard Celeste whining in a distant corner of the room. "Celeste?" she called out, and yet the whining continued.

She found the dog pawing at the floorboards at the back of the room. Bonnie hadn't made it to this section of the archive yet only recently finished going through everything in the room next to it. At a glance, the shelves in this section seemed to be dedicated to family records. Bonnie watched Celeste and then realized that she was pawing at a door. There was a sliding wooden door right in front of her. Bonnie slid the door open and stepped in, Celeste right on her heels.

"Oh…my…god…"

Bonnie's mind flashed back to her decision to forego attending Whitmore Library's Bennett Section dedication ceremony.

Celeste just stumbled upon the _real_ Bennett Section.

Shelves upon shelves packed with grimoires, journals, scrolls, magical instruments, _personal effects_ , going back hundreds maybe even thousands of years if the stonework artifacts she spied in a corner were any indication. It was all _here_. The story of her blood line had been researched, catalogued and stored by the Armory. She suddenly didn't feel so bad that they'd all died. The idea that the history of her family had been kept hidden away when she'd been so thirsty for even the smallest drop warred with the reality that nothing was lost. It was all here now, waiting for her and her alone to drink.

Her fingers caressed the spines of grimoires, missing the spark that always came when she touched Emily's. A spark she hadn't felt in over two years.

A bark from Celeste brought her to a section of the room where an elaborate family tree had been painstakingly drawn on a large sheet of vellum. Her family tree.

The marker for Qetsiyah stood at the top and branch after branch followed, recording the life and death of those of her blood. When her eyes fell to her own name at the bottom of the tree, the lone entry of her birthdate visible, she couldn't help the sadness that crept in. She was it. She had no children and likely never would, considering. _This tree dies with me_. A lone tear fell.

When she brushed it away, she noticed that the tree was hanging above a small pedestal. Atop it was a small wooden box. The small tag affixed to the pedestal spelled out a name in runes. A name she remembered seeing carved into the caves beneath the Lockwood property.

Ayanna.

She knew that her ancestor lived among the Mikaelsons, had taught Esther their family's magic. She had always been curious about her and hated the fact that the only ones who could tell her anything were her sworn enemies. And yet here she was. Some small piece of the woman who brought their bloodline to this land.

Bonnie opened the box. Inside lay a small empty pouch. Beside it, a pendant. It looked ancient and probably made of bronze and it held a large green stone. Bonnie gently lifted the pendant from its box and placed it in her left hand, in amazement. It was kinda ugly. The odd green of the crystal clashed with the patina that covered its bronze setting. And then she felt it.

The burning…the searing…

It was like the pendant caught fire and was attempting to fuse itself to Bonnie's palm. The pain was blinding. She screamed, trying to fling the object away but it remained affixed. As if tiny grappling hooks anchored it to her. The burning sensation intensified as it traveled up her arm, bringing Bonnie to her knees as she howled her agony. All rational thought abandoned her, only white hot pain remained.

She collapsed onto the floor, hearing only her own screams as the world faded to black.

She awoke to Celeste slowly licking her dried tears. She gently pushed the dog's face away and registered two facts:

One: she had a splitting headache.

Two: She was _brimming, pulsing, practically overflowing_ with magic.

She had never felt this kind of power before. Not when she channeled 100 witches, not at the height of her Expression. This magic sang long and loud through her veins as if it had been lost long ago and now rejoiced at being found.

It was _glorious_.

Bonnie reached down and stroked Celeste's head. "Thank you, Celeste." Her smile full of gratitude as the Great Dane licked at the magic sparking from her fingertips.

Bonnie straighten up and ran from the room. She was full to bursting as she ran through the halls of her home and out back to the open field.

If this magic wanted to sing, then she would sing right along with it.

The wind began to stir almost immediately at her will. Along the tree line, branches swung wildly; their trunks creaking from the force. The earth rumbled and fire erupted forming a circle around her. Yet she did not feel its heat. Clouds formed and sweet rain fell. Celeste ran about jumping in out of the ring of fire, barking happily as over 1,000 years of spirit magic was unleashed upon the earth.

Bonnie couldn't describe this feeling. It was almost too much. The magic poured out of her and then flowed back through her, familiarizing itself with the youngest member of the Bennett bloodline. And as the onslaught continued, Bonnie knew—down to her bones—that this was for _her_. That this had _always_ been for her. That family she would never ever hope to meet had seen her pitiful existence across time and set aside an inheritance for her. The _magnitude_ of it all…

The wind lifted Bonnie's tears from her eyes before they could fall. And the Bennet witch found that she could nothing shout her gratitude into the storm.

 **BKBKBKBK**

"And that's how I got my mojo," Bonnie said quietly, taking a sip. They had taken a few bottles of Guinness out to a small garden area near the dining hall, once Klaus began his story. The witch had started a small blaze in the fire pit between them as she sat on the grass, reclining against a decorative rock formation. Klaus could only stare. To think that he had witnessed Ayanna preparing a care package to be delivered a millennia later to her sole heir. And that it had been created by her greatest forebear at the behest of the spirits which guided their blood. Spirits that Bonnie herself _told_ him that she'd rejected.

She may have lost faith in the spirits, but the spirits clearly had not lost faith in her.

He stared at the witch, at the way the fire light danced across her skin and made those lovely green eyes sparkle. Every time he thought he knew all that he _needed_ to know of this her, he was presented with more. And each new detail fascinated him to the point where he _wanted_ to know more. To peel back her layers like an onion and discover how such a creature came to be.

"Astonishing," he whispered to himself.

Bonnie picked at the label of her beer bottle. Turning Klaus' story over in her mind, she gazed at him across the fire. Its light illuminating his face, making him appear angelic. It confused her. She couldn't reconcile the angel before her with the devil she knew. And yet this devil spoke the message her ancestor wanted to her to hear.

" _She will be reminded that no matter what has been taken, no matter what suffering endured…that she is of the Blood. And her Blood, will never forsake her. "_

Bonnie smiled to herself. "Message received."

A/N: So this concludes what I consider to be the first act of this story. I really hadn't planned to do a double update but my muse has "ridden me hard and put me away wet" as my high priestess would say lol. Anyway, expect the second act to contain a lot more Klonnie as well as the arrival of additional characters. Thanks so much for the follows and reviews. They really motivate me to make sure that I'm telling this story exactly the way I want to. So cheers to you. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I've earned a date with a lady named Indica.


	7. Knives

**Knives**

"Now listen to me _very_ carefully. I _know_ you're frightened, and you should be. Because this is going to hurt. I daresay you'll have never felt pain quite like it. And it is perfectly _fine_ if you wish to scream. In fact, I _encourage_ it." His voice was calm and soothing as his pale white fingers glided across her bare abdomen.

"But," he continued, gently brooking no argument "no matter how frightening, no matter how _painful_ …you must _not_ move. You must not run from this. That would displease me. And you don't want to displease me now do you, love?"

"No..." Her large blue eyes were wide with fear, her pupils dilated. She was lovely, long-limbed and fair. Her milky white skin was a pleasant contrast to her fiery red tresses. He would _enjoy_ her.

"Splendid." She lay beneath him, her body stretched out and panting. One of his witches procured her and he made a mental note to reward the dear girl for her keen eye. Her lovely breasts rose and fell with each breath and a strawberry red blush spread across her neck and shoulders.

He leaned down and captured her lips with his own, tasting her fear. He felt her shudder in revulsion at the contact and smiled. It never failed. Even a lowly human such as this one tended to recoil from his glory, despite the vessel it came in. It was instinct he supposed. Some innate awareness of fearing what they could never hope to understand.

His vessel's fingernails had grown over the years and he'd filed them down to beautifully sharpened points. He grazed them lightly over her skin, relishing in the goosebumps that appeared in their wake.

"Now that that's all out of the way…Time to show me what you're made of, my dear."

He pierced her skin with an index finger, slicing her open from collar to navel. It was beautiful the way the blood welled up from the incision and flowed down her sides. Like sheets of rain against a window pane. She was tough, biting her lip bloody to avoid crying out. But it was futile.

She would sing his song. In the end, they all did.

He leaned forward and lapped at the tears that squeezed through her tightly closed eyelids. "Look at me, love" he coaxed.

When her eyes opened, filled with an ocean of fear and pain, he gave her his most encouraging smile. "Good girl. Now keep those baby blues open, alright? Show me _everything_ "

Taking both hands, he used his fingers to pull her wound open. He had barely gotten started when his ears were suddenly filled with the symphony of her screams. _Wonderful_.

"You wanted to see me?!" An irritated voice called out above the melody.

Frowning at the interruption as well as the now spoiled moment, he plunged a fist into her open chest and pulled out her heart. He watched it beat several times more, mildly annoyed at the missed opportunity. He had intended a great deal more for her, but once the mood has been broken then what's the point? He tore into her heart with his teeth, savoring the nectar it contained. The benefits of a vampire vessel were truly a delight.

Tossing the heart over his shoulder, he turned to his visitor.

"Damon, my love! So good to see you!" he frowned at the vampire. "Why so glum?"

"You _know_ why."

 _Ah yes_. Such was the case when he removed his glory from a vessel. After all within had been consumed years ago, he'd remained in both Damon and Lorenzo, reveling in their supernatural bodies. However, he removed himself from Damon several days ago. They were always bereft when he departed, waiting desperately for his return.

"Well, perhaps I can cheer you up." He stood, abandoning the dead girl on his bed. He strolled over to his mirror and stared at the blood smeared reflection of Lorenzo St. John.

"I have a job for you, my love", he said, preening.

"Anything," Damon replied immediately.

"I know you're cross at my leaving but it was necessary for the errand I need you and Logan to run." The witch was strong for a solitary. Not as strong as he would have liked, but certainly enough for this task.

"I believe it's time for you to go see an old friend."

 **BKBKBK**

They had been at this for a month. And while they both agreed that Tunde's blade could be used to subdue "Bob", they were nowhere as far as a means of containment. The comet would pass by in little over a month and the pressure was beginning to wear.

"I think it's time to reconsider the vault," Klaus announced, irritably.

Bonnie sighed, "We've been over this already. The vault isn't fool proof. Yvette St. John was able to enter it in 2014. My barrier spell kept it contained, but then 3-year old siphoners were able to remove that and it got out. This is not a problem I want someone else to have down the line. Hell, I don't appreciate having it now."

"Well we can thank _Damon_ for that bit of short-sightedness, _no offense_. Although I do have to wonder..." His voice trailed off in that way that set Bonnie's teeth on edge and he was using that gentle, falsely innocent sounding tone that was the precursor to him starting shit.

Bonnie set down the scroll she'd been reading. "Wonder what?" She asked, tiredly.

"Damon waited over a century and was willing to destroy the whole of Mystic Falls in order to free Katerina from a tomb she wasn't in. He and Stefan both were willing to risk waking Silas in order to return Katerina's pale imitation to her human life. In every instance in between, your life has meant little to nothing. And yet he _knowingly_ makes a deal with the Armory to save you, thus plunging us all into this calamity. So tell me...when _did_ you achieve doppelganger status in the eyes of the elder Salvatore?"

Bonnie inhaled sharply. His question stung. "Probably about the same time your whole sire line decided they wanted you dead. Tell _me_ , how close did they get to _ending_ you? If it weren't for _Marcel_ making you _eat_ Tunde's blade, you'd be dead now, right? Does that mean you _owe_ him?"

Bonnie didn't even bother to hide the smug satisfaction that graced her face when the hybrid's eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened. She was frustrated, tired, and hungry _and_ her head was starting to hurt. The last thing she wanted was to spar with a passive aggressive hybrid...

 _But if he insists..._

"Tread lightly, little witch," he warned.

"Or what? You're gonna annoy me into oblivion? _Too late_."

Klaus leaned back in his chair. "What's annoying is your fixation on a permanent solution as if there even is one. We have a vault that's kept this thing contained for years and the only reason it's out now is because of your friend's foolhardiness. And yet you won't consider using it because of whatever may happen 'down the line'? You're going to need a better reason than that, love because we're running out of time. Or perhaps that _isn't_ the reason you're so hesitant?

Bonnie pushed her chair away from her desk and stood, palms flat upon the desktop. "Just what are getting at?

"Well let's see: It's already been established that this thing can't get in or out of the vault without a body and it's currently making a home inside of Salvatore and this Enzo. So is the problem truly the vault or the fact that you can't use it without trapping either your imbecilic best friend, your boyfriend or both? Are you putting their lives above all else? How _ironic_."

"I will do what needs to be done, like I always do." Bonnie gritted out. She was flushed with anger. Who did he think he is? He's had to live with this for all of a month and now he wants to question her motives?

"Really? Because while your successes are noteworthy, your unforced errors are as well," Klaus said smoothly, rising as well.

"What the _fuck_ is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh what could I possibly be talking about?" He mocked. "Tell me, was unleashing a tomb full of vampires and your grandmother's death worth making Elena's life easier? Was bringing the Gilbert boy back to life not once but twice worth not only your connection to the spirits but your death as well? Or my personal favorite: The Gilbert Device. Was acting out a poorly devised plan worth the killing of Tyler's father and the hospitalization of dear Caroline which led to her becoming the very thing you hated? He hurled his accusations like throwing stars, each hitting their target, each making her bleed.

"I was trying to save lives—"

"Whose lives, Bonnie?" He scoffed. "Everyone's or just the lives of those you care about? Tell me, when you transferred my consciousness into Tyler were you thinking about all of the innocent lives that have been taken and will _continue_ to be taken by those in my sire line? Or were you only concerned about Caroline, Tyler, the Salvatores and a mother who doesn't want to be around you for more than an hour?"

"What the fuck do you know about anything?! When have you sacrificed anything?! Sure you can look down on my mistakes since you don't make any. You have to _give_ a shit in order to make a mistake. And you don't give a shit about anything but yourself!

"How many times did you throw Marcel under the bus to serve your vanity? Were you carting your fucking family around in boxes for their own good or for their _obedience_? Elena and Stefan both told me all about the hell you put Rebekah through. I can only imagine what you've done to the rest of your family. The irony of hating Mikael when you act just like him-"

"Bonnie—" his voice was nearly a growl.

"And Camille! Tell me, is she dead because of your ex and your firstborn or because she met _you_?"

Klaus' fist went through the desk. His once blue eyes burned yellow with black sclera bleeding into them.

"What? You can dish it out but you can't take it?" Bonnie didn't care about his rage. She brushed away angry tears with the heels of her palms.

"I don't know where this is coming from and I don't care! I know I've made the wrong choice in the past; and I know I can't do anything about it. But I was a scared, lonely kid thrown into _extreme_ supernatural bullshit—a lot of it yours! So what the fuck is your excuse?"

Bonnie waved an arm and her damaged desk slid across the room, crashing into a wall. "Believe it or not, I learned my lesson, and I'll be damned if I let you judge me for the mistakes I made before I was even old enough to buy a fucking drink!" With a speed Klaus didn't know she was capable of, she strode past him and out of the room, making a beeline for the front door."

"Don't walk away from me, witch!"

 _Don't_ _test_ _me hybrid._ Bonnie could feel the magic pooling in the palm of her hands; begging, _pleading_ for the chance to defend her.

"Fuck off, asshole!" she snapped. The front door slammed behind her.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Damon leaned against the hood of his car, his arms folded across his chest. "You think you can hurry this up?"

"Patience, grasshopper. This aint no Easter egg hunt I'm on." Logan sang in reply. The witch was several yards ahead of the vampire, his arms outstretched, feeling the air.

Damon rolled his eyes. Their flight had been awful. Nothing but turbulence and feeding off of the stewardesses hadn't even lightened his mood. He wanted to go back. There was still so much left to do. And yet here he was out in the middle of nowhere with this barrel of laughs in front of him, waving about like he's playing Pin the Tail on the Fucking Donkey.

"Found it!" Logan called back. Damon sped over.

He quirked an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Yep. This is where she set the barrier." Logan's hands were up and outstretched, feeling the invisible wall.

"That means this thing is at least a mile away from the actual estate!" he hissed.

"Don't believe me? Try crossing it yourself," Logan returned blithely.

After promising himself that when this was all over he was going to drink bourbon from Logan's skull, he smiled. "How many are you going to need to crack it?"

"Not sure." Logan's tone was serious. "I need a clear picture of its dimensions. You're saying it's at least a mile out, and we can assume this goes all the way around the property; but we don't know how high it is or even if it's got a top, and considering who built it, it probably does. We get an idea of _that_ , and I can figure out how many witches we need."

Damon nodded and started unbuttoning his shirt as Logan continued, "Now as far as what we need to do here tonight, this thing shouldn't be a problem at all. In fact—Damon what the hell are you doing?!"

The witch gaped as the half-naked vampire unbuttoned his jeans and dropped them.

"Shut up, kid," he smirked. I'm gonna show you a magic trick."

 **BKBKBKBK**

By the time Bonnie stopped walking, she was in the woods. _What the hell was that about?_ One minute they're getting along and the next he's telling her what a fuck up she is. Frustration, anger and hurt melted together into a white hot ball of energy that Bonnie hurled at a nearby elm tree. The innocent bystander was uprooted instantly, its massive trunk splintering.

Before it could completely shatter, Bonnie pulled back her magic, releasing her hold and setting it back down. She rushed over wrapping her arms around the trunk as far as they could reach. She whispered apologies as she let her magic flow out of her and into the elm, repairing the damage she'd caused. _If only everything was this easy_.

She slid down to her knees. She thought she'd gotten past this, but with a few words from an asshole of hybrid, she's right back to being unsure of her abilities...her decisions. Back to a time when she was Damon's verbal punching bag instead of his friend.

The rustle of a nearby bush grabbed Bonnie's attention and she looked up to see Celeste slowly making her way toward her. Bonnie smiled, hugging the animal to her until she felt like she could breathe again.

 _Is he right?_ She'd promised Caroline that she'd be willing to let Damon and Enzo go if it came to that. But was she adamant about not using the vault because of them? Was she willing to trap one or both of them in that vault if it came to that? Could she let them go?

Her relationship with Damon covered so many years and took so many forms. First enemies, then reluctant allies and eventually friends, the best of friends. By the time she made it back from the prison world, she felt closer to him than to Elena. From the moment Stefan Salvatore returned to Mystic Falls, she and her best friend at that point began to grow apart. What did it say that the only time she'd felt that sisterly connection with Elena since then was their coma-induced farewell after Kai put her to sleep?

But Damon...she'd hated him _so_ much...he'd caused her and those she loved so much pain. But when faced with the possibility of being the only two people in the world, the past becomes prologue. Hinting at the future, but in no way defining it. And when it was all said and done, he knew her just as well as Caroline did. And she knew him better than anyone.

And while her relationship with Enzo wasn't anywhere near as tumultuous as was hers with Damon, there was so much love and so much promise before it got snatched away. In their quiet moments together, they'd talk about plans— _real plans_ —for the future. When the business of the Armory and Rayna was over, they were going to leave. Leave and see the world with fresh eyes. Taking nothing for granted, because so much had already been taken from them both for so long. And now...

 **BKBKBKBK**

He would _not_ go after her. She was behaving like a _child_. Yes, he had been harsh with her, but she needed to understand. The amount of time that's been wasted by ignoring the vault was unacceptable. He knew he was right. He knew that her attachment to Damon and Enzo was clouding her judgement regarding their options and that was something they could ill afford.

She would calm down, see the truth in his concerns and then apologize for her obstinacy.

 _But did you really need to speak to her that way?_

 _Yes!_ The witch is stubborn and willful. Her constant need to _save_ everyone has always been her downfall. He would not allow her to fall into the same trap. Not when so much is at stake. Not while his family's lives hang in the balance. Not while her life-

Klaus sat back down in his chair, suddenly tired. He had been on edge for over a week. Ever since Bonnie made him an offer he should have refused.

 _"So before you jammed me up about Ayanna's talisman, I was going to suggest something."_

 _"I did not 'jam you up.'_

 _"Oh no? What would you call it?"_

 _"Expressing an intense desire for information, love."_

 _Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Anyway, before I was so rudely interrupted, I was going to offer to do a locator spell."_

 _"For what purpose?"_

 _"For your daughter. I mean it's not like you can go and bring her here with everything, but I thought you'd like to have an idea of where she is."_

 _He_ _didn't_ _want to know, actually. Not because he didn't care but because knowing made the fact that he'd missed seven years of his daughter's life a reality. She was no longer an infant but an actual child. One old enough to attend school and have friends. Old enough to speak and understand that her father was not there. He had no doubts about Haley's fitness as her mother, but as her father...he'd failed before he'd even truly begun. And it pained him._

 _"As you wish," he answered, offering his palm._

 _She'd taken his blood and applied it to her map. He watched as the blood moved east from Maryland and then north. Up, up and up until it settled on Vermont._

 _"She's in Vermont."_

 _"What the bloody hell is she doing up there?"_

 _"Let's find out." Bonnie waved her hands over the blood and he watched as the small puddle spread out and formed a thin circle around the state of Vermont. Klaus watched as she then closed her eyes and began chanting, her lips barely moving._

 _"She's in a forest...she's...I think she's with a pack. Yes, a pack...She's running...she's_ _playing_ _...she-"_

 _"Stop, Bonnie," his voice was soft._

 _Bonnie blinked out of her trance. "Sorry. I've just never seen so many werewolves in the wild before." She moved away from the map and grabbed her laptop. "According to the Armory's records, there's an offshoot of the North East Atlantic Pack up there."_

 _Klaus nodded, his throat suddenly dry. "Hope's grandfather was once the alpha of that pack. It makes sense that Haley would seek shelter among them in spite of everything" He was pleased that the pack of his father still welcomed his daughter and her Crescent Wolf mother. He stared at the map, almost trying to will the child's face to appear before him._

 _"Do you want to see her?" Bonnie asked gently, drawing him out of his reverie._

 _"Yes," he'd said before he could even stop himself._

 _Bonnie returned to the map, taking his large hands in her tiny ones. Those eyes of hers were bright and shining with the excitement of one waiting for a surprise to be opened. "Just close your eyes and breathe with me. This might feel a little weird."_

 _'A little weird' was an understatement. After a few moments, he felt her magic slide into him, brushing against his consciousness like a caress. And with the ease of opening a window, his mind's eye was then filled with the image of her._

 _Hope._

 _The witch was right. She was playing. She was running through the trees with a group of children and laughing with the exuberance that only comes from youth. Her hair had grown long, darkening from the blonde of her infancy to the dark brown of her mother. She wore cut-off jeans and a t-shirt, sneakers on her feet. And she was_ _filthy_ _. Covered head to toe in dirt after clearly engaging in some roughhousing._

 _His littlest wolf was wild and wonderful...And then she was gone._

He had been in a foul mood ever since. And perhaps some of the foulness seeped into his conversation with the witch, but that didn't alter the _rightness_ of what he said. And if she's that bothered by what he said, then she needed to develop a thicker skin. Instead of running off like a petulant child, she should be treating this like the lesson it was meant to be. She should—

" _Papa would not let her heal it. He said it was to be a lesson."_

He looked down and saw the torn ruin of a 7-year old hand.

 _The irony of hating Mikael when you act just like him—_

A moment later he was running out the front door.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Damon took flight. It disgusted him that he'd failed to indulge in this particular gift for so long. To take the form of a crow was to be above all. To hunt and stalk and terrorize. It was _fun_. And yet he'd cast it all aside in the hopes of convincing a long-legged photocopy-capable of teaching a seminar on the perks of fucking brothers-that he and Stefan were not so different.

But they _were_. For while his brother spent all his time following him around, bimbo girlfriend in tow, Damon had been _cleansed_ , _freed_. This hadn't been like flipping the "humanity switch". Not at all. Choosing not to care about your baggage doesn't mean it isn't there or that it can be forgotten. Which is why eventually you trip over it and the next thing you know you're feeling guilty and apologizing for something that felt _so good_ while you were doing it. Fuck that. This was so much better.

His Savior had taken the baggage…and eaten it. _All of it_. Leaving him clean, bare and open. It's amazing how much space exists inside of you once you eliminate the clutter. Empty, only to be filled with that which truly matters. And he couldn't wait to get back to what matters.

He soared over the woods, taking in the Armory. They'd known the witch had been living here for the past few years, but aside from sending his brother and the blonde to keep an eye on him, they had no concrete idea of what she was planning. Whatever it was, they would stop her. He would not allow the witch to condemn that which had truly liberated him.

Movement below caught his eye. _There she is_. She looked good. Still hot, still clueless. She was stomping from the Armory and headed for the woods. He descended, hoping to follow her and maintain his line of sight, but he was almost immediately singed by the dome of the protection barrier she'd created.

Irritated, he ascended, ready to return to Logan, when he caught sight of the very last person he expected to see anywhere near the witch.

 _Klaus fucking Mikaelson was hauling his mongrel ass out of the Armory and into the woods after the witch._

 _What the fuck was he doing here?_

Damon did one final circular sweep of the Armory's estate before returning to his car and the dreadfully dull witch sitting in the passenger seat. If nothing else could be said about Bonnie Bennett, she definitely wasn't dull.

As he landed and began to transform, Logan stepped out of the car holding his neatly folded clothes. With feathers gone and flesh returned, he stalked back towards his travel companion, enjoying the summer breeze on his naked skin.

He brushed aside the bundle Logan tried to hand him. "Give me my phone," he ordered hurriedly.

Once in hand, he looked up Enzo's phone number. "Yeah, it's me...Yeah we're working on it. But I thought you should know that it looks like our little Bon Bon is being a _very bad bunny_."

 _A/N: So begins the second act. I'm really glad so many liked the last update. Thank you for all the reviews. It's cool to see the questions you're asking and I hope that I'm answering them well. I've already started on the next update and hopefully it will be up before the weekend is over._


	8. Scars

**Scars**

He found her sitting on the ground in the woods, her back pressed against a tree while Celeste's massive head nestled in her lap. A bottle of bourbon in her hand. The beast spotted him first and growled her displeasure at his presence. The witch didn't seem to notice. She simply continued absently stroking the animal's head.

Klaus came to sit beside her. She seemed frozen; staring off into space. She was away from this moment, away from him. He didn't like it when she'd briefly gone there before and he liked it even less now. But this was his doing. Though it had not been his intent, he'd injured her. Torn at old wounds and rubbed them raw. And now he didn't know how to fix it.

Throughout their relatively short but checkered history, Bonnie Bennett had always been honest with him, even when she had no reason to be. He supposed she deserved nothing less.

"Shortly after Hope was born," he began, not even certain she was listening. "I sent her to live with Rebekah. Between my war with Marcel and the countless enemies I'd accumulated, she was in constant danger. Her mother and I agreed that it was in Hope's best interest that no one knew of her existence." He glanced at the witch, hoping to see some sign of acknowledgement but found nothing. Undeterred, he continued.

"Then a newly resurrected Esther resurrected my father."

Bonnie's brow furrowed slightly. "Mikael?" she asked softly. The pleasing huskiness of her voice was replaced with the whispery rawness of too many tears.

"No. _Ansel_."

The furrow in her brow deepened in confusion. When understanding dawned, her eyes widened and she looked over at him in astonishment.

"I met him… _t_ _alked_ to him." He rested his forearms on his knees. "It is an unsettling thing to have what could have been suddenly staring you in the face. And I could _see_ it, Bonnie. I saw the kind of father he would have been. I saw the kind of man I would have been under his guidance. I saw the man I could _still_ become, if he were near. He was _right there_. Everything a father should have been; everything Mikael was _incapable_ of being. The idea that after all that time...I could _have_ this."

Klaus reached out and gently took the bourbon bottle from her hand, taking a swig. "And then he told me he knew that Hope lived. That as alpha of his pack, he felt the lives of all of those who shared his blood."

"What did you do?" She reclaimed her bottle and took a swig of her own before handing it back.

"I killed him." He said the words so simply. And yet he involuntarily tensed, awaiting her judgment.

Bonnie nodded, "You didn't trust him."

"How could I? I didn't _know_ him. He could be used against me. And there was this tiny life that I never expected care for so dearly to consider. Her safety took precedence over my wishes. And I _wished_ , Bonnie."

"Do you regret it?

Klaus thought for a moment. "If I had it to do over again, I would do the same. There are chances I'm willing to take with my own life that I won't take with Hope's. But what wakes me every night, what tormented me while trapped in Marcel's garden, is a question and an answer: Was Hope my _only_ reason for killing my father or was there another?

"Was there?" Bonnie was completely weighed down by Celeste's head, but she squirmed as much as she could to face him.

Klaus nodded. "I knew what his presence would bring. I knew how it would influence me. And a part of me that feared that change. Feared that it would weaken me, thus making those around me more vulnerable. I am who I am because it has kept me safe and it has kept those around me safe. Ansel would have jeopardized that. Therefore, I _know_ that even if Hope's safety wasn't a factor, I would have killed him anyway to protect who I am."

"So you see, Bonnie; in more ways than one, I _know_ what it means to sacrifice what could have been for what is right now."

Bonnie stared at the hybrid and questioned her sanity. Because she got it. For as horrifyingly twisted as it was, she got it. How many times had she turned her back on her own life for the sake of being Elena's protector or Mystic Falls' defender? So much so that she was afraid that she _couldn't_ be anything else. And if that was all she could be, then she would cling to it with both hands. But she still _wanted_ to be something else. Something of her _own_ making, not thrown at her like some shitty game of Hot Potato.

"I know they're gone," she whispered. "I just don't want to _believe_ it." A tear escaped and rolled down her cheek.

"Enzo and I had _so much_ ahead of us. So much _future_. And Damon and I have so much _past_. If I let go of my past _and_ I let go of my future, where does that leave me?"

Klaus leaned forward and cupped her cheek, relieved she didn't draw away. "It leaves you right here, Bonnie." Right now in this moment. And in this moment you are Bonnie Sheila Bennett and all that comes with it. Because the past never changes and the future is whatever you choose to make of it. So what do you choose?"

Bonnie was nodding her head slightly, absorbing his words; feeling a weight she'd unknowingly been carrying lift in small increments with each even breath she took. "I choose to take a look at the vault." Just speaking the words into the open, settled her in a way she hadn't expected.

Klaus stood, nodding and offered Bonnie his hand. "The vault can wait until tomorrow. I think we should take the rest of the day off. We are both sorely in need of some downtime."

"Downtime?" Bonnie took his hand and was on her feet in a second. Klaus watched as the witch walked over to a fallen tree trunk and stuffed her bourbon bottle into it.

"Is that a Damon-ism?"

"Always have a stash somewhere," Bonnie nodded.

Klaus fell in step with her as they walked, Celeste only a short distance ahead. "What I said before; it could have been said better. It _should_ have been said better. My apologies."

Bonnie nodded, "I shouldn't have brought up Camille. Vincent told me she was your girlfriend."

Klaus chuckled ruefully. "That's putting it _oddly_. I don't think we ever truly got a chance to define what we were. All I can say is that I loved her and we were _something_."

"Well she must have been special."

"Indeed she was. Do you remember telling me to see a shrink?"

"It's _still_ sound advice. Wait… _she_ was the shrink you were _working_ on?" Bonnie gasped.

Klaus nodded, "She was beautiful…witty… _kind hearted_. She challenged the way that I viewed things but she had no place in our world."

"Why not?"

"Once introduced to the supernatural world, the vicissitudes of that world allow only two options: adaptation or death. Humans either die or they eventually become vampires. And if there was anyone who had no business being a vampire, it was Camille O'Connell."

Bonnie scrunched her face. "How do you even determine that?"

"Living as a vampire requires drawing on parts of yourself that are rarely needed in human life, if at all. If you cannot do that, your undead life will not be long. Camille expected our world to adapt to her and the fact that it didn't, frightened her. From the moment she turned, every action she took was out of fear. Where Caroline took to vampirism like a duck to water, Camille drowned."

"Yeah but Caroline had Stefan."

"And Camille had me. But she didn't trust me, not really. She didn't trust me to guide her, protect her. So much so that she almost got us all killed. In the end, I regret my interference in her life. But I do _not_ regret her interference in mine."

"That's kinda like me and Damon. I love him and we were something. I call us friends but for us to become as close as we were after everything in our past… _friendship_ doesn't seem like a strong enough word. But it's the only one I've got."

"Did you two…?" Klaus gave her a knowing look.

"What? Oh God no!" was her horrified response. "I mean I love him but it's not _that_ kind of love. It…just... _no_."

Klaus laughed, "Why not? Because of Elena? _Girl Code_?"

Bonnie snorted "In case you hadn't noticed, Girl Code doesn't _exist_ in Mystic Falls. So no, that would not have stopped me if I was of a mind. I mean come on, Damon's so hot it's almost obnoxious."

Klaus pursed his lips, clearly unimpressed. "Then why not?"

Bonnie thought for a moment. "I've seen the way that Damon loves and I've been the recipient of the consequences of that love on more than one occasion. I would _never_ want to be loved like that. I'm not comfortable with innocent people dying because Damon Salvatore loves me. I _hate_ that what we're in right now started because he loved me. Love shouldn't cause that kind of collateral damage. "

"Bearing that in mind, how were you able to forgive him for all he'd done in the first place?"

"Who says I did? I think there are some things that are unforgiveable, and yet necessity demands that you move on from them and let the wound heal on its own. It may not heal as cleanly as it should but it heals all the same. And before you know it, you look back at the offense and you're so far removed from those feelings that even thinking about revisiting feels like a regression. Does that make sense?"

"Of course, it's why I never got around to killing my siblings."

Bonnie chuckled ruefully and then looked up at him. "Who are you?"

"How do you mean?"

"The Klaus Mikaelson I'm used to, is an omnipresent, ego-maniacal, blood-thirsty monster."

"And the Bonnie Bennett I'm used to is a frightened, out-of-her-depth, baby witch with a severe martyr complex and low self-esteem."

"So what happened?" She asked.

"You grew up."

Bonnie smacked his arm, causing the hybrid to laugh softly. They walked on in silence for a few moments.

"Seriously though; if we're going to take care of Bob together, we can't do what we did earlier, she announced. "We can't treat our pasts like weapons and hurl them at eage another." She slowed to a stop as they entered the courtyard of the estate.

"Agreed. I will trust you, if you will trust me." Klaus stated.

Bonnie looked up at him thoughtfully. "Ok…Friends?" The witch extended her hand.

Klaus prided himself on knowing things. He knew 32 languages. He knew an orchestra's worth of musical instruments. He knew an infinite number painting mediums. And he knew that what he wanted from Bonnie Bennett was decidedly more than friendship.

Without answering, he extended his hand and shook hers before raising her knuckles to his lips.

Bonnie scoffed, "Really?" Snatching her hand from him with a smirk. She continued on toward the front door.

"By the way, I forgot to mention: your daughter is really beautiful. _Dirty_ , but beautiful."

"Of course she is." He said, following her. "She takes after her father."

 **BKBKBKBK**

"Who on earth is Klaus Mikaelson?" Enzo's face filled the screen of Damon's cellphone.

"He's the thousand year old blonde, dimpled, smarmy ass bastard progenitor of my vampire line. Also known as the Original Hybrid."

"The original what?"

Damon sighed, "Klaus' witch mama fucked around on her Viking hubby with a werewolf and instead of him aiming for a wall…we got Klaus."

"So he's a werewolf?"

"Well...his mama was also responsible for creating the spell for vampirism, which she used on her four legit kids and her un-triggered bastard. When he drank his first human dry, he triggered his curse and..."

"The rest is original furry fangy history." Enzo's eyes rolled.

"Right. So his mama put a curse on him to bind his wolf and he finally managed to break it about 12 years ago."

" _Why_ was I not told of him before and _what_ is his involvement with the witch?"

"I didn't tell you because he fell off the face of the earth before you were freed from the Armory. As for Bonnie. I don't know. She pretty much hated him. Maybe she was able to wrangle him in based on that family connection..." Damon mused.

" _What_ family connection?"

"Well, Klaus' mama and Bonnie's ancestor Ayanna were best friends. She was her-"

" _What_ did you say?" Enzo's eyes darkened.

"Klaus' mama and Bonnie's ancestor were besties. Ayanna was her mentor."

" _This_ is what being imprisoned for centuries gets me." Enzo's face was tilted up, as if expecting some deity to hear his exasperated complaint. "You're telling me that _Bonnie Bennett_ is the descendant of _Ayanna_?"

"The _only_ descendant at this point."

The laughter that erupted was long, loud and the epitome of gleeful. Damon frowned, looked over to Logan in the passenger seat and saw that the witch's expression mirrored his own.

The guffaws soon quieted down to chuckles. "That's _wonderful_! Oh, Damon love that's _perfect_! Even I couldn't think up something that delightful. You and Logan finish up your tasks and then come home and we'll talk more."

Damon turned off FaceTime and started the ignition. "We should get going if we're going to make it back here tonight."

Logan nodded. "So based on your survey of the Bennett witch's estate, I'd say about 40 witches, channeling the energy of that comet should be enough to bring down her barrier.

"Are you sure? Bonnie is a great deal stronger than most people give her credit for."

"Unlike _those_ people, I'm not stupid enough to underestimate a Bennett witch. Forty witches to break the barrier. And we'd probably need to double that number for whatever she's got in store for us on the other side. How big of a factor will this Klaus be?"

"I don't know. But Bonnie wouldn't ally herself with him unless she absolutely needed to."

"Why?"

"Because she wouldn't be able to trust him."

"She trusted you."

"That's because she was the only one foolish enough to believe there was _hope_ for me."

"What about your brother, or that girlfriend you had?"

"Stefan _hopes_ there's hope. Big difference. And Elena…well, she'd believe there was hope for Hitler if she wanted to fuck him. It's why I wanted her in the first place."

Damon turned onto the main highway and floored it. "Bonnie on the hand…She needed to believe or else having to deal with me on a regular basis would have driven her mad."

"If she could do that with you, why couldn't she do that with him?"

"Because I also happen to work well with others, as evidenced by the fact that you're still breathing. _Klaus_ does not."

Logan rolled his eyes. "Well whatever her reasons, he's in there with her and we don't know how long he's been there or why. Either way we need to account for him. So how do you kill an Original Hybrid?"

 **BKBKBKBK**

"You _can't_ be serious about this."

"I'm quite serious, love. If today has taught us anything is that we need to take a moment to blow off steam. I've only been at this for a month and I'm ready to rip someone's head off. You've been at it for _four_ _years_. You don't expect me to believe there isn't _some_ pent up aggression in there, do you? Klaus folded his arm across his chest and eyed the witch.

"Do you even _know_ how to fight?"

"I beg your pardon?" Klaus asked, in mock offense.

"You're a 1,000 year old hybrid. You don't _have_ to fight. All you do is zip around and knock off heads or rip out hearts. There's not a lot of _skill_ in that. It's like lions. All they do is lay about eating, sleeping, or having sex and yet they still get to be the kings of the jungle."

"I don't make the rules, love. I merely abide by them." He purred.

"Since when?" Bonnie huffed, failing to wrangle the smile off her face.

"Consider this: While Elijah may have received the more extensive training, I am not unskilled by any means."

"You're still a hybrid. With all the vampire speed and werewolf strength that goes along with it. Whereas _I_ won't be using my magic."

"That is true. Therefore I will not use my speed. As for strength, let's be honest: one doesn't need supernatural strength to toss you about, love."

"Oh _ha ha_. I'm no slouch remember? I still have remnants from my days as a hunter...just not the curse that goes along with it, thank God. Plus I picked up some moves from Damon and Alaric over the years. I _know_ how to fight."

"Well then, we should get along swimmingly." He watched as the witch gnawed on her bottom lip.

"You're not backing out now are you?"

Green eyes narrowed. "I don't back out of anything, hybrid."

"One of your more intriguing traits, indeed." He grinned. Klaus stood in the center of the training room and waited for the witch to join him on the mat. He knew she would eventually and he was looking forward to it. The black sports bra revealing her taut midriff and matching compression shorts that hugged her succulent thighs convinced Klaus that this was the best idea he'd come up with since convincing her to reconsider the vault. He didn't hide the slow pan his eyes took from her beautiful face down to the feast of delights she called a body. Even her small, bare, arched feet were enticing.

"So how bout it, witch?" He taunted, beckoning her with his outstretched hand. "Come for me."

Bonnie flushed, silently kicking herself. This sounded like a good idea at the time. But now standing in front of Klaus doing his very best impersonation of a golden god...

"Alright...let's do this." Bonnie marched onto the mat, facing him. Since they were both barefoot, the fact that Klaus was almost a foot taller than she was even more noticeable. _Just like those damn arms of his_ , Bonnie thought irritably, trying not to scowl at the black tank top he was wearing.

Klaus watched as she took a defensive stance, hands up, balancing on the balls of her feet. "Would you like the first shot?" He teased.

The witch sneered, "Sure." And then she attacked.

Klaus was impressed. She used her size to her advantage, keeping low and getting in close to strike before retreating quickly to a safe distance. He deflected some her blows while landing his own. She was fearless in her attack, willing to throw in combination blows using her fists, elbows and feet. At one point, he deflected on of her blows only to grab her wrist and spin her towards him; her back pressed to his front. As her delightful bottom ground into his crotch he grinned unbeknownst to her. _One of his very best ideas_.

An elbow to his ribs and stomp on his foot, freed her from his grasp and she danced away from him, preparing her next attack.

She came in low, but with a sweep of his leg, he took her feet from underneath her and she landed on her back with a thud that echoed throughout the room.

Klaus came to stand over her. "Is that the best you can do, little witch?" He asked, his brows drawn in faux concern.

"Not quite." Bonnie braced her hands on the mat before front flipping into a standing position. "Cheerleader, remember?" She punched him squarely in the solar plexus. When his head lowered to within her reach, she grabbed it with both hands before spinning her body around and letting her momentum send him flying over her hip and onto the mat.

"Has a millennia made you a little rusty, Klaus?" She asked cheekily and then dared to place her tiny foot on his chest.

A dangerous glint flashed in his eyes and before she knew it, he'd grabbed her calf, sweeping her foot off his chest and rolled her down until she was flat against the mat while he loomed over her. "You were saying?"

With a hook of her leg and twist of her hip, she reversed their positions and smiled triumphantly as she straddled him. "Say, Uncle." She sang.

"Never." As much as he enjoyed the image of her atop him, he bucked his hips hard and sent her flying over his head. Bonnie scrambled to her hands and knees just as Klaus rolled over and mimicked her.

The ridiculousness of the picture they made was too much. Bonnie burst out laughing, the hardiness of it making her arms shake as they supported her.

"Don't…you… _growl_ …at…me!" She panted before letting out another peal of laughter. She collapsed onto the mat and rolled onto her side.

Klaus was transfixed by the sight and the sound. He'd never heard her laugh before and now made a mental note endeavoring to elicit the sound from her at least once a day. Her face was lit up like the sun with it. Eyes shining, mouth wide and smiling. She was a vision.

"Stalemate?" He chuckled.

"Bonnie nodded, attempting to quiet herself as she rolled onto her back. Klaus came to settle beside her, his head propped on an elbow.

"Thank you," She panted, quieting her mirth. "I really needed that."

"Glad I could help." His eyes drifted down to her bare stomach. He grazed a finger across the scar above her belly button. "What is this?" He asked quietly.

"Machete."

Klaus quirked an eyebrow.

"Long, weird ass story." Her hand waved in the air with her words as her breathing calmed.

"Perfect, we can discuss it over dinner tomorrow night. I will cook, and you will regale me with your story.

"You can cook?"

"Of course." Klaus sprang to his feet, helping her up. Her scent, which had been slowly peeling away the layers of his sanity for weeks now, assailed his nostrils from her exertion.

"Hmm. I never would have guessed."

"I have more than a few tricks up my sleeve, love."

 **BKBKBKBK**

Damon drove to within a few feet of Bonnie's barrier before stopping the car. He and Logan stepped out, the latter carrying a small metal box. The witch placed the box on the ground right in front of the barrier.

"Alright, let's get this over with," Damon came stand beside Logan.

"Give me your hand," Logan instructed, holding out his own.

"I don't know, Logan." Damon said, looking down at the witch's hand doubtfully. "This all seems to be going a little fast. Quiet drive…moonlit night…and now hand holding? Are you expecting to round all the bases before dawn? What kind of vampire do you think I am?

"Just give me your damn hand." Logan grabbed Damon's hand, intertwining their fingers.

" _Fine_. But we're going steady now."

Logan sighed, "Just close your eyes and breathe. This might feel a little weird."

"That's what they all say. But you know lube—"

"Damon!"

 **BKBKBKBK**

Bonnie walked the halls of the first floor. Klaus retired for the evening a while ago, but Bonnie was restless. Driven from her bed with a need to get up and move. It was only at night that she appreciated the size of her home as each step seemed to echo throughout.

When she approached the study, she entered and found Damon Salvatore sitting down in her chair, his legs propped up on the writing desk.

"Damon?" Her voice was barely a whisper.

"Hey, Bon." He sat there, looking just as she remembered. Leather jacket, terrible haircut, mischievous smile and startling blue eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Her breath was shallow and she didn't know if she should run or stay right still.

"Do I _need_ a reason to see my best friend?"

"All thing's considered? Yes."

"Fair enough. I'm here to tell you that you need to stop." He folded his hands in front of him and leaned back farther in the chair.

"Stop what?" Bonnie asked, feigning innocence.

"Stop fighting the inevitable. You should be tired of doing that by now. This world will be cleansed and every being upon it blissfully open. And you are meant to play a part in that."

Bonnie nodded, "Oh I know my part. My part is to stop it from happening."

Damon shook his head, "You can't stop this, Judgy. It's _long_ overdue. All you can do is come along for the ride."

"No…what I can do is kick your master's ass for what he's done to my friend." Her voice was thick, eyes stinging with tears she would not allow to fall.

"I am your friend, Bon." His smile turning dangerous.

"No. _My_ friend _has never_ and _would never_ tell me to give up. You are _not_ my friend."

Damon viewed her through his eyelashes. "Fine." He announced, switching gears. "Enemy it is then."

He was on her in a second. Bonnie's back slammed against the hard wood floor, her head hitting it with a thud. Damon held her down, his fingers digging into her shoulders. Bonnie called upon her magic and…

 _Nothing_. Her magic was _gone_.

"No!" She cried as she struggled beneath him, panic taking over. _This couldn't be happening_.

"Yes," Damon hissed as starling blue turned black and red, his fangs descended. He hauled her up and tossed her toward a wall, using to his speed to place himself before as her back impacted.

Damon smirked, "I suppose I was always meant to finish the job."

His jaws widened, as he came for her throat.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Klaus was rudely awakened by something cold and wet pressing into his side. He sat up instantly in the darkness to find Celeste sitting next to his bed.

"What in God's name are you doing here?" he frowned and then paused.

Blood. He smelled blood. _Bonnie's blood_. He was on his feet and at her door a moment later. As he opened it, he ducked sharply; a vase flying at his head.

Bonnie's room was in chaos. Anything not nailed down flew around the room in a maelstrom as Bonnie's magic battered itself against the four walls. Unleashed and directionless. He spotted her small form lying in bed, shivering violently. Blood pouring from a wound at her neck.

"Bonnie!" he shouted over the din, barreling through flying objects to reach her. He grasped her shoulders shaking her hard. "Wake up! Bonnie! You have to wake up!

Bonnie's eyes flew open and she awoke, gasping loudly. Her magic responded, settling almost instantly. All objects crashing to the floor.

"Klaus?" she spoke faintly. He was already tearing at his wrist and pressing it to her lips.

The witch protested weakly, failing to push his wrist away.

"You're hurt. You need this." He pressed his wrist to her mouth until she relented and opened, her tongue lapping at the blood that still flowed. She felt the bite at her neck begin to knit itself together and heal.

Klaus's eyes checked the progress of her neck. The witch was in shock. She was cold, clammy and shivering; her hair, damp. Once the wound fully healed, he removed his hand and flashed to her bathroom, dampening a washcloth and returning to her. He wrapped an arm around her began cleaning her face and neck. He saw hand-shaped bruises on her arms begin to fade as his blood continued its work.

"Damon," she panted. "It was Damon. He's here."

"There's no one here, Bonnie." He tuned his senses to the house. Aside from Celeste hanging back at the Bonnie's bedroom door, there was no one. He rubbed circles into her back as she gently rocked back and forth, shaking her head firmly.

"No. It's Damon. He isn't past the barrier, but he's nearby. And he's got a witch."

"What happened?"

"Psychic attack. Damon used a witch to get into my head. I haven't been under an attack like that since Kai." Her breathing was beginning to return to normal.

"Who is Kai?"

"You know my machete scar? _That's_ Kai."

Klaus frowned and made a mental note to inquire about the current status of this _Kai_. "How do you know he has a witch?"

"The barrier's still up and it's a mile and a half out. Not even a vampire as old as you could get into my head from that distance without aid."

Klaus nodded before scooping Bonnie up into his arms and standing.

"What are you doing?" The witch asked as he began to carry her from her room.

The hybrid stopped. The reins on his anger were fraying. Salvatore had entered her mind and harmed her and the vampire had done it while he was in the very next room. He resisted the urge to go out and hunt the fucker down. But that's exactly what the vampire wanted, to make one or both of them leave the safety of the barrier. He looked down at the witch.

"Your sheets are bloody, your room's a disaster, you've been attacked, and my blood is in your system. You will _not_ be alone tonight." His tone brooked no argument.

Bonnie considered his words. She wanted to protest. A part of her wanted to be alone, to process what had happened. But he was right. She nodded.

Klaus continued on to his room, turning on the lights. He set her down on his bed and retrieved a clean shirt from his closet. "You can sleep in this."

Bonnie took the item from his hands and looked down at the cotton camisole she was wearing. The right side of it was stained with her blood. She stood and slowly walked into his bathroom, closing the door.

Klaus sat on the edge of his bed and exhaled. He looked toward his doorway and saw Celeste sitting there, calmly waiting. The beast alerted him of Bonnie's distress, despite their mutual disdain.

"Alright, Celeste. Come in." He watched as the dog entered, crossing his room to settle herself on the rug in front of his fireplace.

Klaus pinched the bridge of his nose. The comet was a little over a month away. Damon had been sent to provoke a response. This was a depth charge. And he was certain they could expect more in one form or another. _They want to know what we're doing_.

His bathroom door opened and the witch stepped out. She'd removed her pajama bottoms and his shirt swallowed her. The witch was clearly exhausted with weary green eyes and shoulders bowed. Klaus wanted to share his thoughts but they could wait until morning. Tonight he would watch over her.

He stood and moved around the bed turning down the side opposite him as she approached. The witch seemed uneasy. "It's only for tonight," he assured. "Long enough for my blood to work its way out."

Bonnie nodded, climbing into the bed. She settled herself on her side, keeping her back to him. He saw her tense when she felt his weight join her on the bed.

Klaus turned off his lamp and then stared at her back. He'd known this witch long enough to know that there was _no way_ she was recovered from what happened tonight. He reached for her, swearing silently that he would toss her out the nearest window if the words "no touching rule" even thought of escaping her lips. Not after today.

His hands settled on her and if it were possible, she seemed to stiffen even more. Undeterred, he gently drew her body to him, turning her until her face was pressed against his chest. He held her to him, enveloping her in his warmth. And when he was certain that she wouldn't relax, he felt an arm come around him, a small hand pressed to his back. She began to tremble slightly and he felt his chest dampen and smelled the salt of her tears.

"He's gone…" Came her choked whisper into the darkness.

Klaus tightened his arms around her and pressed a kiss into her hair.

"I'm _sorry_ ," his whispered and held her as she cried.

 _A/N: This is the longest chapter I've written lol! I always worry about them being too long or too short. Anyway, I hope you liked it and the vault is up next. I'll hopefully have the next update posted sometime during the week. Whether I like it or not, I seem to be averaging 2 updates a week. But this story has apparently grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and won't stop shaking me until I tap out. So y'all are kinda stuck with me until this is over lol Thanks for the reviews and follows! There was a lot going on with this update so I'd really like to know if everything's coming across clearly as more and more story elements get layered on top of what's already out there._


	9. What Lies Beneath

**What Lies Beneath**

 _Warmth_. Bonnie was surrounded by it. It pulled at her, coaxing from her body a weariness she had not consciously been aware of; drawing it out and leaving her room to settle more comfortably in her own skin. With a contented sigh, she opened her eyes and was immediately reminded of _where_ she was.

She was in Klaus' room. _In his bed_. And his large, shirt-less body was currently wrapped around hers. She was pressed against him, her face buried in his neck. One of his arms held her to him, the other had come around only to bury his hand in her hair. Slowly the events of the night before came back to her.

She'd been attacked by Damon. Klaus carried her to his room. She was wearing his shirt. She tried to keep her distance in his bed, but he'd gathered her to him and that was apparently where she stayed.

She craned her neck to view the hybrid, the scruff on his chin grazing her forehead. His eyes were closed. The last time she'd been this close to him, he'd been mostly desiccated. Now, he was flesh and blood and the close proximity was…unsettling.

He appeared so young in his sleep that she wondered how old he'd been when he was turned. His skin was smooth, the blonde whiskers along his jawline providing a textural contrast that she briefly considered exploring with her cheek. Blinking the fleeting thought away, her eyes landed on his full lips and she almost groaned.

This was too much. Yes, they'd had a bonding moment, and _yes_ , they were going to try to be friends. They'd been living together for a month now and she could acknowledge that the image she had of the hybrid prior to that had been decidedly one-dimensional. The arrogance was there, along with the viciousness, ruthlessness and brutality…but there was also humor…warmth…and a depth that was nearly breathtaking. These truths flowed together and fueled a magnetism in him that was again…unsettling.

He had been a comfort to her. When she felt his hands reach for her in the darkness, she froze. It had been years since feeling an embrace like that. To be blanketed in the presence of another. To have the wildness of his scent assail her and have the warmth of his body pull at points within her that had been long abandoned. As hurt as she was by the loss of Damon, it had felt _so good_ to be able to pour her grief out to someone and have them simply take it. Not try to fix it, or explain it, or even dismiss it. But to simply take it for what it was.

But this…this felt too comfortable, too safe…too _intimate_.

The fact that intimacy and Klaus Mikaelson were a part of the same thought, was—you guessed it— _unsettling_.

Bonnie needed to figure out a way to extract herself from the hybrid's arms without disturbing him. She tried shifting her shoulders gently to break his hold.

The arm around her waist tightened, and the fingers in her hair began to lightly massage her scalp. She felt her eyes begin to close at the sensation. _Goddamn it._

"The sun isn't up yet, witch." The hybrid murmured against her temple.

"I didn't mean to wake you," she apologized, making another half-hearted attempt to disentangle herself. He'd thrown one of his legs across her during the night and when she attempted to ease her own leg from beneath it, her thigh brushed against a rather conspicuous hardness. She froze.

Klaus watched Bonnie's face redden as he smiled against her skin. "I haven't been asleep." He hadn't. When she finally finished weeping, she'd slept. Klaus kept her close, looking for any sign of another attack from Salvatore, while still enjoying the feel of the witch in his arms. She may be attempting to indulge in some form of skittishness now that she was awake, but during her slumber, she'd tried to burrow deep into him. As if she couldn't get close enough to satisfy her. As soon as he caged her in with his leg, she stilled. Aside from the occasional mumbled nonsense, she'd slept peacefully.

When she awakened, he'd waited for the moment she realized her current predicament. And as expected, she was beginning to wind herself tightly again. If she kept this up, she'd likely spring onto the ceiling like a cat hanging by its claws when he let her go.

Fortunately, he has no intention of doing that. Not when she fits so delightfully well against him. Not when she's bathed in his scent.

Bonnie tried shifting again, which only resulted in her feeling even more of what she was trying to avoid. Klaus bit back a laugh as he watched her fidget. She'd been through an ordeal. He should be nice and spare her the erratic heartbeat and flushing skin that now plagued her.

But he is not nice. And he is enjoying this too much.

"You're not going to make this easy for me, are you? She huffed.

" _Absolutely not_ , love." He inhaled the scent of her hair.

"One psychic attack and a loaned t-shirt and now I'm your cuddle buddy?"

"Seems fair," the hybrid shrugged.

" _Klaus_ …"

"We are not leaving this bed until sun up. I suspect we'll have very little opportunity for rest in the coming weeks and so we must take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself. Tell me you don't agree."

Bonnie opened her mouth to protest, but nothing came out.

Satisfied, Klaus repositioned her slightly, his erection now firmly against her. The fingers in her hair resumed their assault. "Rest, Bonnie. While there's still time to."

Bonnie asked herself if fighting him on this was a hill she wanted to climb and decided she didn't. She didn't have the strength for it. She reasoned her need for rest to be the culprit in her failure to find the strength necessary to tear herself from this cocoon made of hybrid. _Yes, that's it_.

And as her eyes drifted close, she pondered when she'd gone from being Dorothy Gale with an oil can, to Dorothy Gale in the poppy field.

 **BKBKBKB**

It was strange, how things fall into place when you least expect them. As if there truly was some divine providence directing the steps of the unknowing, leading them on a path determined for them long ago. But he was old enough to know that there was no providence. That in fact each step was a matter of cause and effect. The pebble and the ripple.

When he'd lured Damon all those years ago, he'd assumed him to be human. It wasn't until the vampire entered his lair, smelling of magic that he realized his good fortune. Vampires were exquisite creatures. Strength, speed and near indestructibility made them adequate temporary vessels; but the magic they held was only enough to maintain their vampiric state, same with werewolves as it happens. No, the only supernaturals with magic to wield were witches, Nature's counterpoint to his existence.

It was unfair really. As the natural evolves, so too must the supernatural and wasn't that how he'd come to be? Had he not evolved from the supernatural realm? Had he not gone from being raw and indiscriminate to be being self-aware and full of purpose? Wasn't he, more than anyone, able to say with absolute certainty that flesh was wasted on the living and the undead?

But no, instead witches shunned, abhorred and sought to vanquish. _Fools_. He could not be vanquished any more than air could. Only contained. And considering his most recent incarceration had lasted over 1,000 years, witches were very good at containment. _Certain_ witches, in any case.

And while solitaries were at his disposal, their magic was limited, making them unsuitable as a final destination.

 _Until Bonnie Bennett_.

After he'd taken Damon and Enzo, they learned that she had become more human than witch, having lost her magic with her transition to hunter. It had not returned, making her of little use to him and his plans. If she wanted to waste her life traipsing about with Damon's brother and his girlfriend, then she was more than welcome to it. In the end they would all be devoured anyway. He remembered Damon's mind advising him to never count the former witch out.

Two years later, the vampire proved to be right. He would never forget the night it happened. His vessels had been feeding, well Damon at least. Enzo's body was otherwise occupied having its most sensitive part down the throat of some bleary eyed blonde, his hands buried in her hair.

When that much magic is unleashed into the world, supernaturals can sense it, even if they're unable to understand what it means. However he was born of magic, subsisted on it in its purest form. His ability to perceive magic was as natural to him as the five senses are to a human. And that night he'd felt the oldest, most potent spirit magic break into the world out of nowhere. Hundreds of miles away and still he'd felt it. It was nearly orgasmic. In more ways than one since the rush he'd felt at its presence was so strong, he'd inadvertently yanked the blonde's poor head off. It did not take long for his witches to determine the source of such an event.

Bonnie Bennett was back in play and bearing more power than he'd witnessed since his release from the Armory. And with having learned that she was now the very last of her line…she was perfect.

Made even moreso with Damon's little reveal about her lineage. The cause of his confinement would become the vessel of his ultimate liberation. He would feast on the Bennett witch. And the power that trapped him all those ages ago, would be his to do with as he will.

He couldn't wait to meet her.

 **BKBKBKB**

Bonnie stood on the dirt road, her barrier firmly in place before her. By the time she awakened, Klaus was already in the shower. She used the opportunity to hop from the bed and dart down the hall to her own room, Celeste at her heels. After a spell to repair the damage and a shower, she was ready to check out the vault. But first she'd suggested they check out where Damon sent his little transmission from.

"There's fresh tire tracks on the other side," Klaus pointed out.

"And it looks like they've left a present." Bonnie looked down, seeing that a small metal box had been placed next to that side of the barrier. She crouched down and extended her hand towards the box.

"Careful, love."

"I know," she murmured using her magic to slide the box through the barrier and into her hand. She stood and faced him.

"What do you suppose it is?" she asked.

"Whatever it is, it's designed to get rise out of you." They'd talked on the way to the barrier and he'd told her his thoughts on the motive behind Damon's attack. That it was the first in an attempt to get her to show her hand. To act too rashly. Damon and therefore Bob was working on the belief that the witch could still be rattled by ghosts or traumas of the past. Neither knew that their information was outdated. And _that_ was to his and the witch's advantage.

He watched as Bonnie slowly opened the box. Her face was unreadable. He came around to view the box's contents for himself only to have a sharp intake of breath upon sight.

Bonnie stared at the ring nestled inside the box. She hadn't seen it in years, but she'd never forget it. She'd made it herself.

"That's Abby's daylight ring." Her eyes slid over to the blackened heart nestled beside it. "And we can assume _that_ is Abby's heart." She lifted the ring from the box and stuffed it into a pocket of her jean shorts.

Bonnie then removed the heart and held it in her hand, tossing the box aside. She gazed at it, her eyes darkening to emerald. Klaus watched as the heart suddenly erupted into flames.

"Let's go check out the vault." She said, walking past him with smoldering ash falling from her fingertips.

 _Yes, their information was severely outdated._

 **BKBKBKB**

The life of a minion cannot be easy. Committed to your leader's purpose and also subject to his will. To be ordered hither and yon to execute this task or that, while having no clue as to the reason for it. To simply do as you're told. Whether that's admirable or pathetic was up for debate, he supposed. In any case, he picked up Enzo's cell phone and dialed a number.

"I have a job for you," he said once a female voice answered. She was a baby vampire by the name of Dinah. He'd turned her while still using Damon as a vessel.

"Anything," she answered. He always loved when they said that.

"There is a weapon I need you to procure. I'm sending Laura to you. I need you to escort her to the location she sets and bring it back."

"Do I need to bring Laura back too?"

"Not if you don't want to. But it should be noted that she's still necessary to my plans."

"So I'm bring Laura back too." She answered dryly.

"Entirely, up to you love. Call me when it's done," he said, ending the call.

Dinah would return with the weapon. It would aid him in his assault on the Armory and deal a heavy blow to the witch herself. And while it was only a matter of time before the witch unwittingly showed her hand, he couldn't wait for the day he would lay all of his cards on the table before her.

It will be sweet.

 **BKBKBKB**

"About your mother…"

"I don't need to talk about it."

Klaus gave her a look.

"I'm _serious_. I don't need to talk about it. I'm sorry she's gone and that's about all that I can feel for her at this point." It was the truth. She had no more tears to shed for Abby Bennett. She'd shed the last of them years ago. Every attempt at building a relationship with mother had been rebuffed in one way or another. After she'd returned from the prison world, she'd tried yet again to connect with Abby and had only received more of the same: platitudes and vague promises of future conversations that resulted in Bonnie yet again feeling that she was somehow unworthy of the former witch's love. Eventually it had been Enzo that helped her to accept the fact that she was not responsible for her mother's failings as a parent. Abby never wanted to be a witch, and she obviously didn't want to be the mother of a witch. To continue to try and force the issue produced nothing.

Klaus studied the witch and said nothing. He knew very little about the witch's relationship with her mother, but if Bonnie's quiet resolve on the matter was any indication, she'd gotten over the woman a long time ago.

Bonnie led Klaus down two flights of stairs into the sub-basement. "According to the Armory's records, the vault was discovered in the early 1800s, but they weren't able to open it until 1882.

"How was it opened?"

"The door was magically sealed. So they brought in witches over the years to try and open it but none of them were strong enough. They found one of my ancestors, Monroe Bennett, and threatened his wife and children. He opened it." She came to stop before a security door. She punched in her code, opening it to reveal a darkened corridor. She murmured a spell and the torches that lined the corridor were set ablaze.

"Once Monroe opened it, Enzo's piece of shit father Dalton, entered it with the rest of his crew-"

"Piece of shit?"

"Dalton St. John was this wealthy landowner from England. He also liked to diddle the help, including a girl named Mary, who was 14 at the time. When he knocked her up, he cast her out. According to census records she died of consumption when Enzo was three. A year later he was sent to a workhouse."

"How do you know this?"

"Dalton kept journals. He was very frank about being an asshole." Bonnie found Dalton's journals not long after she decided to stay in the Armory. At first she was ecstatic, thinking that once she got Enzo back, she would give them to him. He had always been so hungry for any shred of information about who and where he came from. But halfway through reading the first of Dalton's journals, Bonnie began to question if Enzo knowing about his father was the best thing.

"Anyway, they were in the vault for only a few moments before Monroe pulled them out and resealed it. But whatever Bob did or tried to do to Dalton in there drove him mad and he slaughtered his entire crew, including Monroe. Personally, I think Bob tried to invade Dalton but Monroe got him out before he could fully take him over. But the damage he did was permanent. Dalton went on a killing spree until he got his wife Eugenia finally blew his head off.

"She took over the Armory, completed the construction of this place and the vault became a non-issue until 2014 when Yvette St. John managed to get in."

"How was she able to enter in the first place?"

Bonnie shook her head, "That's what I don't know. The records say that Lucy sealed it back up, but she wasn't the one who opened it. So we don't who, if anyone, and we don't know how long it had been open before Yvette went in." They came to a stop before a thick wooden door.

"I haven't been here since I opened this thing four years ago." She admitted. "When I decided to stay here, Caroline and Stefan helped me clean the place up, burn the bodies. But they took care of the ones that were left down here." She lifted the wooden cross bar and set it aside before pulling the door open.

Bonnie made a move to step through the opening when Klaus' hand on her stomach stopped her. He grabbed one of the lit torches from the wall and proceeded through the opening first, motioning for her to remain close.

Klaus held the torch aloft. "This isn't a vault, Bonnie. It's a cave system." He reached back and firmly clasped Bonnie's hand in his own, guiding her over uneven rock. "This passageway opens to a cavern farther down that way," he indicated with a nod of his head.

"You've done a lot of spelunking?" Bonnie asked skeptically.

"In a manner of speaking. One can find themselves in a myriad of unusual places over the centuries when searching for a moonstone the size of a bar of soap."

"Oh I can believe that," Bonnie chuckled, remembering when she and Caroline hauled Elena and Stefan out of a well filled with vervained water over the very same moonstone.

They continued on in silence, Klaus navigating them through eruptions of stalagmites.

"When we get back to the house, I'm calling Caroline and Stefan. I think it's time for them to come back," Bonnie announced.

Klaus nodded, "We need to consolidate our forces, small in number though that may be."

"Yeah about that…"

Klaus stopped walking to peer down at the witch.

"I want to reach out to Vincent and Marcel."

"Out of the question."

"It wasn't a question. You just said that our numbers are small and they are. You, Caroline, Stefan and I won't be enough to hold off whatever Bob's bringing by ourselves. We need more, Klaus."

"I'm not denying that. But perhaps you've forgotten that Vincent and Marcel took seven years from me as well as my family and that the likelihood of an alliance between them and my house is non-existent?"

Bonnie nodded, considering. "That's true…but only if you're the one doing the talking. Vincent and I are on good terms. He knows what's at stake here, I don't think I'm going to have much trouble getting him to come here and talk."

"And Marcel?" the hybrid ground out.

"I am certain he will be a much harder sell. But then, I also managed to convince you to join the team. Are you saying he's worse than you?"

The low growl he gave in answer made her smile.

Bonnie turned to face the hybrid, her hand resting lightly on his forearm. "Look, I'm standing in this cave because you convinced me to reconsider something I was fully prepared to discount out of hand. You made me get out of my own way and see the bigger picture for what it truly is. Now I am _asking_ you to do the same. Bob has built an army. We _know_ that. And now they've sent two warning shots over our bow. We need to be prepared for when they get here. And right now the nine covens of the French Quarter along with an army of vampires are a mere sixteen-hour drive away. We _need_ to bring Vincent and Marcel to the table. Explain to me how this doesn't make sense?"

Klaus ground his teeth, searching for a flaw and came up empty. "I will _not_ deal with Marcel," he said, lowly.

"You won't have to," she assured. "Just let me do all the talking."

The hybrid scoffed, "Yes, you. The witch who snuck into New Orleans and stole me right out from under him."

"I didn't _sneak_. And I can be very charming when I want to."

"And when will I be availed of such charm?"

"When you can stay on my good side for longer than a few hours."

"Even though we've spent the night together already?"

"Oh my god…we did _not_ spend the night together!" she hissed. "We just slept togeth—". Frustrated with the implication of that phrasing as well, she stamped her foot. "We shared a bed. And no that does not constitute being on my good side. In fact—"

A gust of wind blew past them, snuffing out the torch in Klaus' hand and plunging them into darkness. Bonnie squeezed the hybrid's hand instinctively. Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she spied a sliver of light in the distance. "Do you see that?" She whispered.

"Of course," Klaus answered as the light growing larger as they continued forward.

"Do you think that's the exit?"

"I doubt it. That would be entirely too easy."

Bonnie snorted, "And easy is _definitely_ not the way we do things." She stopped abruptly.

"What's the matter?"

"I don't know...I don't know how to describe it. It's my magic. It's drawing me to that light." It was as if she'd been caught on someone's fishing line and was now being slowly reeled in. But she felt no malice, no ill intent. Just a gentle and vaguely familiar pulling toward the source of that light.

Once close enough, Klaus' assessment proved true: The passageway opened onto a vast cavern. The light, seeming to come from a pond below, revealed an array of stalactite formations above; long and jagged as claws. Columns of stalagmite reached up from the pond as rust brown spires. Bonnie could do nothing but gasp having clearly stepped into another world unwittingly or rather a living snapshot of the world early on it its creation.

Klaus surveyed the area in hopes of finding a readily accessible way down into the cavern. "That pond is at least 30 feet down," he surmised, wrapping an arm around Bonnie's waist.

Bonnie started, "What are you doing?"

"I assumed you wanted to get down there."

Bonnie looked around hurriedly, "There isn't another way?"

Klaus studied the fidgeting witch carefully, "You're not afraid of heights, are you?"

"I'm not afraid of heights. I just don't like them."

Klaus could resist brushing her cheek with his thumb. "Close your eyes."

A wariness passed over her features until she appeared to remind herself that they'd agreed to trust each other. She closed her eyes, inhaling deeply.

In one smooth motion, the hybrid scooped her up into his arms and jumped down into the cavern, landing several feet from the illuminated pond. It had all taken a matter of seconds. He simply stood there holding her until she finally opened her eyes.

"Now that wasn't so terrible, was it?" He smirked.

"I'll let you know once my heart settles back into my chest," she answered, attempting to squirm out of his hold.

Klaus set Bonnie down on her feet. She felt a subtle vibrations beneath her. The pull toward the nearby body of water had intensified tenfold and unconsciously began moving in its direction. The intensity of her attraction to it confirmed her suspicions.

Ley energy. A ridiculous amount of ley energy was emanating from the pond. There had to be a fissure beneath it and the magic was just bleeding out of it.

Klaus moved to follow her and only made it a few steps before he slammed into an invisible barrier. He glared at the wide-eyed witch. "Did you do this?" He demanded.

"No! I didn't, I swear." Bonnie rushed over to the hybrid. She extended her hands and watched them pass through the wall that blocked him.

"Can you remove it?"

"I _can_...But I don't' know if I _should_." She answered looking over her shoulder at the pool. "This barrier seems to be non-witch specific. Whoever put it up didn't want anyone other than a witch to pass through. Makes sense considering there's giant pool of ley energy over there."

Klaus began to walk around the cavern floor, Bonnie's eyes following him. Regardless of which direction he approached, the moment he made a move toward the pond, the barrier would stop him. But it was where he now stood that stopped her, the light from the pond revealing the details of the rock face behind him. She gasped.

"Klaus…turn around," she whispered.

Bonnie came to stand beside him. The rock face was covered in glyphs that had to have been carved centuries ago. And, more importantly, they were not unlike the ones beneath the Lockwood property in Mystic Falls.

"There were werewolves here?" Bonnie asked, astonished.

Klaus moved over and looked up, pointing. "Not just werewolves, love."

Bonnie trained her eyes on where he indicated and thought it funny how things suddenly fall into place when you least expect them. As if the universe had set you on a path long before you were born and only now can you see in which direction you're heading. Only now could you see that for as treacherous and winding as your journey has been, it was to bring you to this point. The point where she's standing in a forgotten piece of the world only to look up and see a name that meant more to her now than her mother's ever did.

Ayanna.

_  
A/N: This update would have been posted earlier but Gypsy Danger aka my laptop decided to throw a hissy fit earlier in the week and I just got her back yesterday. (Shout out to the IT department at work. Thanks for always being susceptible to a proper flirt). In any case it's put me a few days behind because I wanted to be working on the update after this one this weekend by now.

I think by now it's abundantly clear that I loathe the treatment that the Bennett bloodline got on TVD, especially since it's older than any of the lines on TVD or TO. It's bad enough that TVD reduced Qetsiyah to a pissed off bitter ass ex-girlfriend, but then Ayanna pretty much drops off the planet after she conveniently preserves Esther's ass. So Ayanna's impact on this fic will extend beyond her being the reason Bonnie got her magic back. (NO she's not getting resurrected.)

Thank you all so much for your comments on the last chapter. While I was definitely worried about the length (LOL), I was also worried about getting Klonnie's moment in the woods right. And I didn't want it to come off as too maudlin or angsty and it sounds like it didn't, which makes me happy because I hate that shit.

I should have the next update out sooner now that Gypsy's back in working order. Thanks for hanging it there.

P.S. The cave system is loosely based on the Crystal Grottoes Caverns in Maryland and its entrance is in the bowels of a house that's been built on top of it. It's really beautiful if you'd like to Google it.


	10. Zapped

**Zapped**

" _What was she like?" the witch asked. They'd been sitting across from each other in silence for several moments. Both still marinating on the other's tale. He now knew how she'd regained magic and she knew that he had been present when a portion of Ayanna's magic had been set aside for her._

 _Klaus gave a small smile. "If ever there was an iron fist wrapped in a velvet glove, it was Ayanna. She was kind…gentle…_ _thoughtful_ _…she had a very healthy sense of humor; and yet she carried herself in a way that brooked no argument. She always made time to answer my questions or wax philosophical with Elijah or discuss the magical properties of herbs with Kol and Rebekah."_

" _What about Finn?"_

" _Ah…Finn. I don't think you're aware of the kind of dullard my brother truly was. Her relationship was him was very different from the rest of us. He revered her, as did we all, but he never sought her out with the frequency that we did. He took himself too seriously, and when Ayanna decided that he needed to loosen up, she would deal with him."_

" _How?"_

" _She'd make him go play in the mud."_

" _What?"_

" _That idiot fell for it every time," Klaus said fondly. "If Ayanna needed assistance with anything, she'd usually call on Kol or me; Elijah as well but not as frequently. But she practically never called on Finn. He was always too busy being the eldest and carrying the weight that came with it._

" _But whenever she did go directly to him for something—anything-you knew that the end result would be him completely covered in mud. One time, she told him that she dropped the bit of silver she intended for Esther's talisman in the garden behind her hut. He spent practically all day back there digging around until it finally dawned on him that Ayanna never had a garden back there because it was too muddy year round. But as always, he'd look up and see her staring at him and then they'd both burst into laughter. After that, he'd be bearable for at least a month."_

 _Bonnie chuckled. It was weird hearing Klaus speak of her ancestor with such fondness, but she couldn't help but enjoy this window into a woman she'd never meet._

" _She spoke to the spirits on our behalf and she acted on theirs," he continued, remembering._

" _I can't imagine that. My relationship with them was tumultuous at best and downright shitty at worst." Her Grams had never fully explained who and what the spirits of nature were. A moniker such as that both explains everything and nothing. And yet as a witch, she was to be their servant and maintain the balance._

 _She knew that on the basest level, all magic derived from them and that her bloodline was the only one that had purposefully maintained a direct connection to them, while others chose to manipulate it into other forms: Ancestral, Expression, Sacrificial and a host more were all tied to spirit magic at their core. And while her bloodline may have used any and all of those forms, spirit magic was the life's blood of the Bennetts._

" _I wouldn't say her relationship with them was friendly in the traditional sense." Klaus continued. "More an acknowledgement that they see things in way we do not understand and act accordingly to preserve the balance."_

 _Bonnie's brow furrowed, "If you can speak that comprehensively about their purpose, why do you do the things you do? Things that routinely upset the balance?"_

 _Klaus smile. "Because my awareness that they act on what_ _they_ _see does not overshadow my need to act on what_ _I_ _see. They will do whatever they're going to do. As will I. If I need to upset the balance, I will. And if they need to set it right, they will. And when our needs are not in conflict, all is well."_

 _Bonnie took a long swig of her beer. "Well then…when you put it that way; I suppose you've been alive for this long for a reason," she said, wryly._

 _Klaus smiled again, dimples on full display. "Indeed."_

 **BKBKBKB**

"After you killed Esther and Ayanna preserved her body, what happened to her?" Bonnie placed her hands on the rock face and felt the same vibration she'd felt beneath her feet. Ley energy. She hadn't used her magic to tap into it, but she knew it was the cause.

"I don't know. We were on the run from Mikael. We fled for the Old World." After many years he thought her lost to time. It wasn't until two centuries later he learned that the witch who created the Brotherhood of the Five was of Ayanna's bloodline.

He stared up at the rock face before them with his arms folded. Just a cursory glance and he knew that the carvings could be no more than a millennia old, give or take a decade. Whoever made them kept a steady hand as each line and shape was clearly defined. His lips curved into a small smile. The crude shapes told a story where words could not and his fingers suddenly itched for paint and brush.

"Can you translate it?" Bonnie instinctively moved closer to him, following his gaze with her own.

The hybrid didn't respond, his eyes scanned the images, looking for a starting point. Finding it, his eyes darkened, jaw tightening.

"I believe this is a record of what became of many of the survivors of Mikael's massacre." He looked down into Bonnie's confused face. "After we were made vampire, Mikael discovered my true paternity when I triggered my curse. He then went to Ansel's village and slaughtered him, most of his family and many who were a part of his pack. The survivors fled and their descendants comprise the Northeast Atlantic Pack. Ansel was their alpha." He explained.

"And they came here?"

"Some of them, it would seem. Others, fled farther south going as far as Louisiana."

He focused on a particular section. "They came here and settled." His hand raised, waving faintly over certain symbols. "The spirits sent Ayanna to them many moons later. She lived among them."

Bonnie looked around. "She probably stayed here during the full moon," she said softly.

"After a time, they found a dying man name Egill by the river," he continued. "Ayanna healed him. He told of a dark spirit among his people. Some it killed. Some it…emptied." Klaus looked down when he felt the witch clutching his arm.

"Egill warned of the dark spirit's approach," he read. "Ayanna protected the pack. Hunter became hunted. The spirit was snared and she waited."

"What? Waited for what?" Bonnie stepped back, thinking. The puzzle pieces were here. The picture was forming but there was still too much negative space.

"Then it goes into a record of the pack's growth. Matings, births, deaths—". He stopped suddenly, and quirked an eyebrow. "She _mated_ with him."

"Who?" Bonnie was back at his side in an instant.

" _Ayanna_. She married Egill. She bore him two daughters and a son."

"Wait a minute…how old was she?"

"We never knew. She was very coy about such things. In all the time I knew her, she never appeared too old to bear children. She just didn't have any. Rebekah assumed she was barren."

"You didn't think that?

"Ayanna always did things in her own time. I assumed childbirth would be no different." His eyes landed on a section. "Here. The spirits told her that to bind the dark spirit she would need to build…"

"Build? Build what?" Anxiety was making her magic begin to spark within her.

Klaus growled in frustration. "I don't know. The next entry simply says that she died and the pack intended to leave believing the region now cursed. Egill and their children went with them."

Bonnie closed her eyes. She'd always been good at putting things together. She just needed to _thinkthinkthinkthink_.

Bonnie's eyes flew open in realization. "It says the hunter became the hunted and Ayanna snared the dark spirit. Bob's after me for my magic, there's no reason he wouldn't have been after her for hers."

She looked up, taking in the cavern. She saw above her the openings of the passageways—one leading to the basement of her home and two others that likely accessed the rest of the cave system, possibly leading to another exit. If there was another exit, she suspected that it too had been magically sealed.

"There's no way that this is what the spirits told Ayanna to build, Klaus. This isn't a vault. It's a trap. A _snare_. A thing that hungry for magic wouldn't be able to resist something like that," she said pointing to the pool. "No, she used that ley energy to lure it in here and then threw up all those barriers to not only keep it away from the pool, but to hold it here while she waited for the spirits to tell her how to deal with it. She must have died before she could do it, so it just stayed trapped here."

Klaus ran his fingers through his hair, exasperated. "So we're back at square one. This was always meant to be a temporary solution and we still don't know the permanent one."

"No, no…we know there _is_ one and that the spirits know what it is. So we're just going to have to ask them." Bonnie dropped to one knee and began untying her boots.

"The spirits spoke to Ayanna, Bonnie. Have they _ever_ spoken to you?"

"Well…no…" While she'd had contact with certain spirits of her ancestors-all of them sent on their behalf of their benefactors-she'd never spoken to them directly. And with the collapse of the Other Side, there was no one left to intercede on her behalf.

"You defied them and then renounced them, Bonnie."

"Yep. And yet I still found Ayanna's talisman. Every time I've lost my magic it's been given back to me. I could have become a permanently dead issue with them _so many times_ and yet they never stopped me from coming back. And no matter what I've been: Expressionist, ghost, Anchor, hunter…I always reset back to being a witch. A Bennett witch. _The Bennett Witch_. They safeguarded the magic that flows through me for _this_. I _will_ finish what Ayanna started and _goddammit_ they are going to show me how."

She stood, raising her arms and recited a spell to drop the barrier around the pool. Klaus came to stand before her. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to take off these boots and get into that pool." She gathered her hair up quickly into a bun and secured it. "That's a pool of ley energy over there. A conduit. The stuff that witches are made of. I can't think of a better way to get to them than that, can you?"

She clasped the hybrid's frowning face between her hands. "I'm about to do something I've never done a day in my life, Klaus; I'm going to trust the spirits."

Bonnie toed her boots off. She reached out and balanced herself with the hybrid's arm as she snatched off her socks. When she straightened, she nodded firmly to herself. "Ok. I'm off. If you see me floating face down, pull me out."

"Bonnie—"Klaus warned.

"I'm _kidding_. This will work. This will be fine. _Trust me_."

She turned from him and he watched as she waded in. When she was submerged up to her neck, she turned and observed him, her face unreadable.

"Stop frowning, Dimples," she said, winking as her head disappeared beneath the surface.

Klaus watched as the surface of the water stilled. _Now what?_

The ground beneath him began to shake violently. The momentarily still waters were now boiling furiously, the light from beneath flared to almost blinding. Magic exploded into the cavern, sending Klaus flying backward where he smashed into a spire of stalagmite. His eyes flashed gold and black; fangs and canines descending. The magic hung so thickly in the air that were it flesh, he would sink his teeth into it. He would rip and tear and bathe in it. His body ached with need for it.

It grew and swelled, pressing him into the earth as if there were no more room in that vast space for both it and him. He gnashed his teeth at the pressure, growling as he strained against it; feeling the hairline fractures beginning in his bones. He was going to be crushed by magic.

Then, with as much force as when it arrived, the magic seemed to gather itself and plunge back into the boiling pool. Klaus saw Bonnie's small body being propelled from the water to land on earth with a wet thud. She was soaking wet and steam wafted off her body.

They both lay were they'd fallen, panting harshly.

"Bonnie…" Klaus groaned.

"Yeah?" came the faint reply.

"Are you alright?"

"I think so…are you?"

"I'm going to need blood. Did they tell you anything?"

"Nope," she said, rolling gingerly onto her back. "But they will. And whatever it is. I'll do it." She struggled to her feet as she watched Klaus rise to his own. His "happy face" was on full display.

"Woah…that bad huh?"

Klaus nodded, eyeing her dangerously. She was _glowing_. Her eyes were an electric green and she was as full as a tick with magic. Her blood was singing a siren's song to him and his gums itched to taste her. A second later he had her in his arms and was speeding from the cavern.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Over a millennia of life, Klaus Mikaelson has been witness to many things. The rise and fall of civilizations. The sprawl of humanity across the face of the earth. He'd seen sights and wonders so awe-inspiring that he still was unable to capture their brilliance on canvas. He'd seen absurdities of such magnitude as to make him want to split open his own skull.

But now he could say with absolute certainty that he had never encountered anything quite like Bonnie Bennett going rogue and deciding to go bang on the door of the spirits only to return hopped up on a rather obscene amount of ley energy.

" _Is it ok to come down now?_ " He heard her voice call out to him. After he'd yanked her out of the vault, he'd flashed her upstairs and tossed her into her room, slamming the door shut when he left. He sped to the kitchen, throwing open the fridge and grabbing several blood bags. He'd torn them open, drinking furiously. After he'd drained all of them, his breathing returned to normal and he felt himself calm. The scent wafting from the witch was still in the air and he steeled himself against it as he then made his way back up the stairs and towards her room.

" _Are you alright?" He asked, knocking on the door._

" _Oh I'm great!" she sang out. "Just getting changed."_

" _We should talk about what happened down—"_

 _Her door swung open. "You promised me dinner tonight." She declared cheerfully. The brightness of her eyes had returned to normal, but she was still pulsing with magic and she was flashing him a 1000-watt grin. He frowned suspiciously at her exuberance._

" _Are you high?"_

" _Bell-like laughter tinkled out of her. "High seems like too small a word for whatever this is." She stepped into his space._

" _You look so grim," she pouted adorably. "Smile, Klaus. I feel too good to be grim." She smiled again encouragingly._

 _Oh he knew how good she felt, his mind returning to waking up with her pressed against him. It had taken an extreme amount of resolve to keep him from ravishing the delectable witch that very morning. And now here she was; in his space, assailing his senses,_ _daring_ _him._

 _He smirked. "Does the witch want to play?"_

" _Well I don't know...depends on the game." The hybrid's scent was washing over her, reminding her that there were certain games she hadn't played in four years. Games that left you clinging and sweaty and sated and she really shouldn't be thinking about that but ultimately who cares because damn he's hot…_

 _Klaus looked down into the witch's face. There was only one game for him. And it entailed stripping her bare and making her body sing as he buried himself so deeply within her that Enzo St. John would become distant memory; offered up as a sacrifice on the altar of bliss that he would take her upon…repeatedly._

 _But her eyes were all but swimming in her head, her body temperature elevated, her breathing shallow. That, along with the whimsical lilt to her voice, gave him pause. He lowered his head toward her, cupping her cheek and inhaling her before brushing his lips across her brow._

" _When we play, little witch, I want you_ _fully_ _aware of my victory." He lowered his hand, fingers trailing her jawline. "Now stay here until I call for you."_

 _Bonnie gasped in faux offense as the hybrid turned from her and made his way down the hall._

That had been a half an hour ago and now the witch was standing at the top the stairs trying to see if the coast was clear.

It was not.

"I'm in the kitchen," he called to her.

A few moments later, she appeared. Still sparkling with magic. Still painfully tempting.

"Can I help?" she asked cheerfully.

"Yes," he said, setting up a cutting board. "I need a distraction. You agreed to tell the tale of your machete scar."

" _Well_ ," she said, springing onto a nearby counter. "Machete _might_ be a bit of an exaggeration. More like a _really_ , _really_ big hunting knife." She wore a pink camisole with black pajama pants. Badtz Maru house slippers adorned her small feet.

"I don't care if you were stabbed with a pencil. You will tell me of this _Kai_." He looked up to see the witch levitating several pieces of silverware. She began to make them dance as she sang softly to them.

"Be…our…guest. Be our guest. Put our service to the—"

"Bonnie…"

"Hmm?" The silverware froze in the air.

"Your story?" He reminded her as he began chopping an onion.

"Oh! Well, I probably should start from the beginning. Remember the last time we talked? The Other Side was collapsing?"

"Of course."

Bonnie floated an orange over to her and watched it begin to peel itself. "So the other side was in its death throes and Damon was stuck over there with me; but my Grams came through with the cryptic vibe and told me that she'd made arrangements and that I just needed to be strong. Damon and I waited to get sucked into oblivion and there was this _big_ bright light and rushing wind and then…nothing."

"Nothing?" he dumped the onions into a heated sauté pan.

"After the lights and the noise were over, we were just standing in the woods. It wasn't until we got out of the woods that we knew something was wrong. It was Mystic Falls, but it was completely deserted and completely outdated. Turns out, it was Mystic Falls on May 10, 1994 and I didn't have my magic."

"Time travel?" He couldn't hide the skepticism in his voice.

"Ha! I wish! Damon thought it was his own personal hell because the shittiest thing he's ever done happened on that date. I'm telling you; it was worse than Groundhog's Day, Klaus. Every day was May 10th and we were the only people there. Stores were fully stocked, cars had gas, but no other people. Or so we thought."

A slice of orange floated to her mouth and Bonnie plucked it out of the air with her teeth. "We were there for a few months before Kai showed up and tried to kill Damon, which got my magic to working again. Anyway, he said he was a witch and that he'd been stuck there since May 10th and that the only way out was by using this device he had called an ascendant. But that to activate it, he needed a Bennett witch to perform the spell during the eclipse that happened on that day."

She finished chewing another slice. "It didn't take long for me to find out that this wasn't some hell dimension, it was prison world the Gemini Coven got my Grams to make for him since he'd slaughtered half his family."

Klaus looked over to the citrus munching witch. "Gemini Coven? Kai…Are you talking about Malachi Parker?"

"You know him?" Bonnie's eyes were wide.

"No. But the Parkers were one of the founding families of the Gemini Coven. A massacre taking place among their ranks is information that winds up at my door." The Gemini Coven was a powerful group of witches. But they'd always been brute strength with no finesse.

Bonnie jumped off the counter, leaving her remaining orange slices still floating. She disappeared into the pantry and came out carrying a bottle of wine. Reclaiming her perch, she floated two glasses over to her while she watched the wine bottle uncork itself.

" _Must_ you do that?" He waved at everything suspended in air.

"I just took a dive in an ancient cauldron of magic. I need to burn some of this off." She had better ideas on how to accomplish that but…

"Anyway, Kai said he was a witch. But it turns out he was a very specific kind of witch. A siphoner."

"What?"

Bonnie looked up and laughed at the blank look on the hybrid's face. She wriggled on the counter waved her hands, the remaining slices of orange landing softly on a small plate while the wine poured itself into the two glasses.

"Ok. I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. The spirits of nature don't just have a problem with vampires. They occasionally have a problem with witches too. Every form of magic derives from spirit magic, right?"

"Yes," He accepted the glass of wine that floated over to him.

"Well, if you continue to manipulate spirit magic unnaturally, the consequences will always bite you in the booty. That stupid Harvest Girl ritual the Nine Covens used? It works _against_ the flow of nature to the point of halting the natural progression of life. And it was being done on the orders of a bunch of dead witches who'd convinced themselves they were more than what they were. So a Harvest girl blowing up the connection to the ancestors was inevitable and fortunately Vincent isn't stupid enough to set up that kind of system again.

"Expression? It's a complete distortion of magic. That's the reason everyone that's indulged in it died, including me," she drank deeply from her glass.

"But what the Gemini Coven was doing is even more fucked up. The _Merge_. Murdering and magically cannibalizing siblings. Yeah it makes the coven strong as hell, but it's a forced mutation of magic. _Siphoners_ pop up in the Gemini Coven and _only_ the Gemini Coven because they are basically the magical birth defects of too much inbred cannibalizing."

" _How_ do you know this?"

"I don't know," she said absently. She stopped, thinking about what she'd said. "Wait… _Why_ _do_ _I know that_?" She jumped down from the counter again, unnerved.

"I don't know where I got all of that from, Klaus. But I know it's true as surely as I know my own name." She gasped, realization dawning. "Is this how the spirits are going to talk to me?"

"It may be," he answered slowly, more than a little dumbfounded. "Do you have a solution to our current problem now?"

Bonnie thought hard. "No. I'm drawing a blank." She was trying not to freak out. Were the spirits going to start dropping fun facts into her head like some party game?

Klaus came over and laid his hands on her shoulders and squeezed them gently. "Continue your story. Perhaps more will come to you."

 **BKBKBKBK**

Klaus' head was spinning. Were he not firm believer in the witch's honesty, he would have sworn this was the worst lie he'd ever heard. The witch had attempted to kill this Kai with a pick ax to prevent him from returning to the land of the living with her and Damon. Then the bloody bastard shot her with an arrow and she'd sent Damon home without her, expecting to die. She'd then transferred all of her magic into a _teddy bear_ and sent it along after Salvatore, ensuring that she and the Parker brat remained. Over dinner she explained that he'd eventually chased her through a hospital, strangled her, _drugged her_ and then stuffed her in a trunk and drove to Oregon. And she _still_ hadn't arrived at the point where she been stabbed.

This Kai Parker had better be dead by the end of this, he seethed.

Bonnie was in heaven. She had to be. How else was she able to relay one of the top three worst periods of her life with such ease? Between the magic that still hummed through her, the divine inspiration that peppered their conversation, the wine…Bonnie felt giddy. And to top it all off, Klaus had prepared a prime filet with a bordelaise sauce that was so sinful she was hard pressed not to lick her plate.

They'd cleared the dishes and adjourned to the study. Bonnie drifted over to the small entertainment center and turned it on. Take Five by the Dave Brubeck Quartet filtered through the speakers.

"It's become cliché, but it's still really pretty." She explained to Klaus' quirked eyebrow before joining him on the couch. She settled into the soft cushions across from him and picked up her tale.

"Kai took me to his family's home, and explained what happened on May 10, 1994. He even made Thanksgiving dinner. Said it was a peace offering and that afterward we could go our separate ways. He told me that because he was a siphoner and therefore an abomination, his father wouldn't allow him to merge with his sister Jo and instead decided to keep having babies until they popped out another set of twins. Which they did; Liv and Luke."

"He continued to have children for the purpose of killing one of them?" Klaus frowned.

"See why their magic's all fucked up? Anyway Kai didn't take well to being passed over so he stabbed Jo with a hunting knife and killed the rest of his siblings in an attempt to get to Liv and Luke. But Jo was able to hide them. Their father and Jo convinced Kai that they were going to let him do the merge after all but when they did the ritual, Jo's magic was gone and he realized too late that the coven with help from with my Grams imprisoned him.

"But apparently, when I transferred my magic into Miss Cuddles it gave him the idea that the reason Jo didn't have the magic to do the merge was because she'd transferred her magic into the hunting knife he stabbed her with. So at the end of his story, he found the knife and siphoned the magic out of it."

"Now how is _that_ possible?"

"A prison world is set up to be a reflection of everything that existed at the time it was created. So since Jo charged up the knife at that time in the real world, there was a charged up knife in the prison world. After he took the magic from that, he stabbed me."

"His reason?" Klaus demanded, his anger at this whelp had been simmering for nearly two hours.

"He'd seen me recite the spell enough times to be able to do it himself. He didn't need me. He just needed my blood. So he got it and left me for dead. When I came to, I knew he was gone."

Klaus ground his teeth hard enough to crack them. This had happened years ago and clearly the witch had survived, but the idea that one such as she had endured…

"It's too early for that look," she said, reading his expression. "It still gets way worse."

"That can't be possible."

Bonnie laughed, "This is _my_ life we're talking about, remember? Anyway a few weeks later, Kai's beeper goes off and it's Damon. He and Elena found a way to bring me back. I was already driving back to Mystic Falls and all I had to do was meet them on the porch of Elena's house."

She quieted, her brow furrowing. "But when I got there, they were gone. So I was stuck there all alone for months. It got bad," she said, remembering exhaust fumes and a closed garage door. "It got _really_ , _really_ bad."

She shook herself from her reverie. "While I was slowly going insane over there, Kai was in the real world raising hell and forced a merge with his younger brother Luke, making him the new leader of the Gemini Coven. But while Luke was a twin, he wasn't Kai's twin so the merge was wonky and Kai was dying. And because of that coven's shitty power structure…"

"If he died he'd take the whole coven with him." Klaus finished.

" _Right_. And since the prison world was powered by the Coven, it began to destabilize too. Fortunately, for me, while Damon had been with me, he'd started mapping out a trip to Nova Scotia. He figured since everything in the prison world was the same as in the real world, he'd go there and get the cure to take back for Elena."

"Dear God…" There seemed to be no end to Damon Salvatore proving himself to be a disgrace to his sire line.

"I know…I know…but if he hadn't done that, I wouldn't have remembered that the cure wasn't the only thing on that island. Qetsiyah's head stone was there as well and it still had magic in it. So while I'm hauling ass through Nova Scotia, the prison world is destabilizing and I find myself shifting back and forth between one prison world…and another."

"Another?" How many of these things were there?

"Yes, and it had prisoners in it too. More on that later. I managed to get myself back home. Kai performed another merge with Jo to save his life and that should have been the end of that."

"Well it can't be, can it? You said the Parker boy lived."

"Yeah he did. Even tried to show his version of contrition about everything he'd done to me. And while I've said that I can move on from unforgiveable things if necessity demands…necessity didn't demand shit from me when it came to Kai fucking Parker, thank God. The only thing I wanted. The only thing I _needed_ , was vengeance.

"By then, Caroline's mom had passed and she'd flipped her switch. Elena and Stefan figured out that he was Caroline trigger. But then Caroline figured it out too and blackmailed Stefan into flipping his switch. So now we've got the two of them running wild all over the South. And this is where things get stupid…"

"They weren't already?"

"Touché. That second prison world I discovered turned out to have been created back in 1903 to contain six siphoners and one ripper. The problem was that the ripper was Stefan and Damon's mother Lily and she had apparently been running around with the siphoners who had eventually been turned and became Heretic vampires.

"Damon and Stefan's _mother_?" Klaus distinctly remembered Stefan telling him that his mother died when he was very young. As for the Heretic vampires, he'd known that vampiric witches were known to exist, but the anomalies were always short lived. Springing up and disappearing before there was any concrete information on how they were created or their whereabouts.

Bonnie sighed. "Yeah…she got turned, faked her death and split. Hooked up with these siphoners and started calling them family. Damon got the bright idea that she would able to trigger Stefan which would then allow him to trigger Caroline. So he convinced me to travel with him, Elena and Kai to the 1903 prison world to grab Lily; and while we were there, I could get a little justice by stabbing Kai in the back and leaving him there to rot.

"Everything was ok for a minute. Kai was back in a prison world, Lily did her job and Stefan did his. Elena took the cure I brought back from the prison world and she was human again. Jo was pregnant with the twins and engaged to Alaric and things were slowly getting back to what we laughingly refer to as normal."

"Elena is _human doppelganger_ again?" Klaus eyes gleamed briefly.

"Don't get any ideas just yet. Because in spite of everything going so well, Lily was hell bent on getting me to rescue her family from that prison world."

"Which you had no intention of doing."

"No. But Lily wouldn't take no for answer and Kai was able to contact her and they orchestrated a plan to get my blood and a trip back to the real world, Heretics in tow. Kai crashed Jo and Alaric's wedding, killed Jo and then killed himself, taking the rest of the Gemini Coven with him. Unfortunately, he died with vampire blood in his system and came back a Heretic. And to top it all off, it turned out that prior to his wedding crashing shenanigans, he'd cast a spell on Elena and me."

"What kind of spell?"

"Elena, fell into a coma-like sleep. She won't age and she won't wake up until I die."

Bonnie heard the wine glass in Klaus' hand begin to crack.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Klaus gazed at the witch curled up on the couch. She'd drifted off to sleep not long after finishing her story. The amount of self-serving stupidity that surrounded his witch was staggering. And while he was certainly glad that Kai Parker had died for all he'd done, he deserved much worse than having his head simply knocked off by Damon Salvatore. And now to find that the rotten fuck bound that annoying doppelganger to _his_ witch. That one day Bonnie Bennett would die and the world would be stuck with a living Elena Gilbert?

Not if he had anything to say about it.

He gathered the slumbering witch into his arms and carried her upstairs. He was about to deposit her in her room when he thought better of it. He turned instead to his own.

If the witch had a problem with it, he would allow her to gripe at him about it in the morning.

He lowered her into his bed and smirked as she snuggled down beneath the covers. He undressed and joined her, bringing her to him; smiling at how well their bodies melded to one another. It pleased him that the manner in which he'd awakened that morning was also the manner in which he would fall asleep. Wrapped around her and breathing her in.

"Klaus?" her small, sleepy voice said quietly.

"Yes, love?"

"Dinner was really yummy," she sighed already beginning to drift off.

"Of course it was. I made it."

A few moments later her voice broke the silence again.

"Klaus?"

"Yes?"

"I think I'm supposed to build a prison world." She sighed again and slept.

A/N: Holy Shit! 10 chapters in a little over a month! And this is officially the longest chapter LOL Thanks so much for sticking with me. Since the fall semester at work is about to begin, updates will more than likely be down to once a week although I wouldn't be surprised if I managed to put out 2 again occasionally. I'm glad that I'm getting more questions. Yes, there is an explanation for the siphoner twins and for Alaric as well, but I don't plan to bring those elements into the story until Caroline is a part of the the story's present day. Same with Valerie in regard to Stefan and with Marcel as well and a few others. All of which should be happening within the next few updates. Thanks again for the reviews and follows.A

Apologies for any spelling or grammatical errors.


	11. Call and Response

**Call and Response**

 _It was the roughness of his hands that stirred her. Sliding up her back, fingers curled into her soft skin; short blunt nails leaving imprints. They breathe as one. To her, it feels like he's stealing her breath away only to give her his when she gasps with need. His lips are at her throat; teeth nipping and scraping a slow path along her shoulder. She would think him uninterested with the lazy way he appears to knead her flesh. But she knows otherwise. She knows that he likes to draw things out…to draw her out._

 _She knows that his patience will be her torment and so she can't stop herself from pulling him closer, wrapping her silent plea for relief in a cloak of urgency. Their perceptions of time differ. For her there is never enough time to slow and savor. For him, time is whatever he chooses to make of it. And he chooses her._

 _She feels him smile into her skin, the tension in his hands increasing just a fraction. The delicious pressure she craves is being denied her in all forms. His hold is not tight enough, his bite not sharp enough. He intends to wind her up in tiny increments before stripping away all that keeps her together. He will wait for the fire he's kindled within her to grow until she's burning for him; aching for his body to be the balm for her own._

 _She endures this willingly because she knows that though he may tease her to the point of madness, he cannot allow her to suffer long. For she knows that her need mirrors his own._

 _Her hands slide up to cup his face. She knows this game and she will play it. For they have played it before and will play it again. But before she surrenders the tattered remnants of her resolve, she needs to feel his mouth on hers. She needs to taste his desire for her on his lips. She needs his arms to tighten around her, cementing the truth they both accept:_

 _This is where they belong. This is where they were always meant to be._

 _His lips are descending towards her when…_

The sound of a door closing and the turning on of a shower wakes her.

 **BKBKBKBK**

"Do you _know_ how to build a prison world?" Klaus asked, accepting a mug of warmed blood from the witch. She had driven him from his own bed that morning as she mewled and moaned faintly in her sleep. And just when she seemed to quiet down, the scent of her arousal attacked him; filled his senses and shook him. He'd nearly rolled her onto her back and taken her right then and there. Instead, he'd headed for his bathroom and the cold shower that awaited.

"Well…no…Not yet anyway. But I know enough to know what kind I'll need to build."

"What _kind_?"

"I lived in a prison world for months and traveled to another. There were drawbacks to those that I don't want that." She placed a couple of bagel slices into a toaster.

"Such as?"

"Well, it's like I said; prison worlds are reflections of this world. Which means magic is accessible over there if you know where to look. Charged up hunting knives, ancestral headstones…Even if those things wouldn't be in one created now, there's still plenty of other stuff lying around now that would be reflected over there…"

"Such as that ley pool below," Klaus continued, nodding.

"Right. We don't want to put Bob in a place where he'd have access to magic. Another problem is the way they were powered. The Bennetts that cast the spell, used the Gemini Coven to power and maintain it. But when the leader of the coven was compromised, the worlds destabilized and then collapsed when he died. I can cast it, but if I power it then we've only got a good 60 or 70 years before it collapses."

"And I'm sure _Elena Gilbert_ would be a godsend on that day," the hybrid remarked, sourly.

"That's not fair."

" _No, it is not_." He said, pointedly, setting down his mug. "How does that not _bother_ you?"

Bonnie sighed deeply. "Why should it? It doesn't change anything. Witch or no witch; magical link to Elena or no magical link, I'm still mortal. The amount of time I'd potentially have hasn't changed."

" _Bullshit_."

Bonnie cackled the hybrid's choice of word. "It's not bullshit. Sixty to seventy years is a good long life."

"I'm _immortal_ , Bonnie. Sixty to seventy years is but a _minute_. Having been in your company I know a minute is simply not long enough."

Bonnie blinked so hard it was nearly audible. _Did he have to sound so matter-of-fact while snatching the breath from her lungs? Who says things like that?_

"Klaus—"

"My point, Bonnie is that your loss is no one's gain."

"Well, it's not like there's anything I can do about it either way." She smeared cream cheese on her toasted bagel.

"Isn't there? What of Qetsiyah's immortality spell?

Bonnie choked on the question. "Are you _nuts_? I don't want to be immortal. _Fuck that_. Do you think I can see a week in front of me? Let alone sixty? An eternity? _No way_."

"Look, my ability to power the prison world is finite. That's a problem, but not an insurmountable one. We'd just need to use an independent source." Her mind beginning to ruminate on the words as she spoke them. _An independent source_ …

"That is _not_ what I'm talking about—"

"But that _is_ what I'm talking about right now, ok?" This conversation needed to get back on track. The section of her mind labeled _Klaus_ was a confusing place full of twists and turns and dead ends and hidden passageways. A labyrinth of razors and silk and at its center a door she wasn't nearly ready to open. And the hybrid using his eyes to bore holes into her wasn't helping. "Can we please discuss the problem at hand?"

Klaus ground his teeth in annoyance. "You require an independent source," he gritted out.

"Yes. I was thinking that Qetsiyah was able to draw on a tremendous amount of power in order to create a self-sustaining one—"

" _Qetsiyah_ created a prison world?"

"Yeah. I mean the Other Side is basically a prison world." Bonnie stopped as she absorbed her own words. "Oh my God! It is! Huh…never thought of that."

"The spirits?"

Bonnie nodded, "The Other Side is a much more complicated version of the ones I ended up in. If you take away all the bells and whistles that come with the Other Side then the only difference between them is that that those worlds existed in a fixed point; whereas the Other Side _moved_ with time. _And_ , magic was inaccessible."

"Did the spirits enlighten you to this as well?"

"Oh no, that one's all me. I spend three months as a ghost on the Other Side and even longer than that as the Anchor. The thing that sucked about it, is that you can see the living going about their lives in _real time_. Completely separate, but still occupying the exact same space. As the Anchor I could move back and forth between this world and that one. Move so easily that it was hard to tell the difference between them a lot of the time."

Klaus absorbed her words as he drank deeply from his mug.

Bonnie chewed her bottom lip in thought. "We need a hybrid."

"I beg your pardon?"

The witch scrunched her nose while grinning. "Not that kind of hybrid. We need a world that's as sophisticated as the Other Side, but practical enough to have a lock on the door."

"And the aforementioned power source to run it," Klaus finished. What did Qetsiyah use to create the Other Side?"

"I'm not sure. She was powerful in her own right but she still would have needed to draw on an astronomical amount for something like that. She'd have had to…" Disbelief bloomed across her face. "She _didn't_ …she _did_."

Klaus eyed her expectantly. It was fascinating watching inspiration dawn on her face at a moment's notice.

"To pull off a spell like that, she would have had to channel the ley lines," the witch declared.

"Which ones?"

" _All of them_." Bonnie said, shaking her head at the thought. "Do you realize how powerful she'd have had to be on her own to just grab hold of all of that, let alone pull on it?"

"She was revered as a god by many for a reason," Klaus said nodding.

"Yeah well I'm no god but that's how strong I'd need to be to pull this off."

"And are you?"

"Good question." Bonnie's brow furrowed as a thought slowly began to form in her mind. Brushing it aside she continued. "If she tapped the lines to get the spell off, then she'd have to use them to keep the whole thing powered indefinitely too. That's why it moved with time; it was powered by every line on earth. The only way it would have fallen apart is if the earth fell apart first." She tilted her head and eyed Klaus thoughtfully. "The Other Side had been built to last."

"And yet it didn't," Klaus pointed out.

"True, but that wasn't a flaw of the original spell. The reason the Travelers were able to cause so much damage to the Other Side, is because _I_ was the Anchor. Qetsiyah switched out an immortal for a ghost. A living being for a dead one." And while the switch provided her with a half-life as the Anchor, the spell for the Other Side began to degrade because of that subtle shift. The Travelers assault on the Other Side through her only exacerbated something what had already been set in motion.

"They never should have brought me back…" she whispered. "If they hadn't brought me back the Other Side wouldn't have collapsed and..." The snowball effect she'd recounted to Klaus the night before came into sharp relief. How much had happened because her friend-who'd all but forgotten about her for months-suddenly decided they needed her back? Of course they wouldn't have had to if she hadn't died bringing Jeremy back and Jeremy wouldn't have died if…"

" _Stop_ it," Klaus' hands were gripping her shoulders, watching her begin to wind up her blame game in earnest. "If the end result is you here, then we're all the better for it, no matter how clumsily executed. And if these light bulbs going off about that are the spirits way of saying 'I told you so', then they can save their breath."

Bonnie nodded, her thoughts returning to the present. "You're right."

"Have I ever told you how much I enjoy hearing you say that?" He smirked.

"Hardy har har," her eyes, rolling. "So we know how to power the spell. We just need to figure out how to bind it. I don't think we're going to find an immortal willing to volunteer for the job."

"Can we use Bob to bind the spell?"

"How do mean?"

"Well it's as you said: Bob will be coming here. Most likely in a vampire body. An immortal vampire body. We were already planning to use Tunde's blade to incapacitate him. Could we not then bind the spell through him? Can he both bind the spell and exist in the spell it binds?"

Bonnie began to pace, her mind mulling over the question. "If we lock Bob down in a body and then use him to bind the spell…that would be like cementing him in the foundation. The spell Qetsiyah used on Amara specifically called on her to become a doorway for dead supernaturals to access. We don't need or want Bob to be a doorway to anything. We'd have to use a different binding spell, but yeah…yeah I think we could." She suddenly grew quiet.

"What is it?"

"Damon was sent here the other night. Which means he's not carrying Bob. Which makes it more than likely that he's still in Enzo. I'd be using Enzo to bind the spell." She ran her fingers through her hair. The less she thought about that, the better.

Klaus didn't miss the sadness that clouded her eyes before she blinked it away.

"Anyway, we've figured out the power. Now we've just got to find all of the spells."

"All of the spells?"

"Yes. We need a new binding spell and…" She tilted her head. "I think building a world requires several spells. Five in fact."

And where are we to find these spells exactly?

Bonnie smiled widely, "The Bennett archive, of course."

 **BKBKBKBK**

Bonnie found the number she was looking for and dialed. The line picked up almost instantly.

"Bonnie!"

"Hey, Care. Is Stefan around? Can you guys talk for a sec?"

"Yeah. We're heading into Washington State. We were following Damon but we lost track of him a few days ago. Just picked up his trail today."

"Well that makes sense. He was here."

"What?" Alarm colored Caroline's voice. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. But he had a witch with him. It was a psychic attack."

"Did you see him, Bonnie?" she heard Stefan ask in the background.

"In the flesh? No. But he did leave a keepsake for me near the barrier. A box with Abby's daylight ring and her heart in it."

"Oh my God…Bon…"

" _I'm ok, Care_. We can talk more when you guys get here. It's time to come back."

"Bonnie—"

" _Stefan_. We need to start consolidating our forces. Now I've got a viable plan I'm working on but we need to start preparing."

"Plan? What plan?" Caroline demanded.

Klaus opened his mouth to interject when Bonnie's arm shot out, her fingers resting lightly on his lips. He quirked an eyebrow in question.

"I got frisky with an ancient cauldron of magic yesterday. I've got to find a few spells but I think I know how to deal with Bob. I'll explain it all when you get here. Now how long will that take?"

"Probably about 5 days give or take." Caroline answered.

"Ok…good…that gives me more time to get more concrete answers for you." She shifted her phone to the other ear. "Stefan…it's time we talked."

The line was quiet for moment before he responded quietly. "Yeah…yeah…ok."

"Ok," Bonnie agreed, firmly. "I love you guys. Be safe and come back soon."

"Love you, Bon." Caroline said, before ending the call.

Bonnie looked up at Klaus. He gently lifted her hand from his mouth, turning it to plant a light kiss on her wrist. She felt his lips move against her skin. "Would you care to explain what that was about?"

His breath sent a light jolt through her and she swallowed hard. "Something tells me that you being here is better explained to them in person instead of by phone." More like that wasn't a conversation _she_ wanted to have over the phone.

Klaus considered her words before ghosting his lips across her skin once more and releasing her hand.

"So…Stefan and Caroline will be here in a matter of days. It will be good to see them." His full lips widened into a devilish smile.

"Promise me you'll play nice." She demanded, her face earnest.

Klaus scoffed. "No."

"Klaus—"

"Lying to you has never been a pastime I've indulged in. Don't ask me to start now. I will be as I always am."

"That's the problem," Bonnie growled. The last thing they needed was for Klaus to decide to try and fuck with the unit that is Caroline and Stefan just for sport.

Klaus laughed at the witch's frustration. "You worry too much, witch."

"I've found I worry just enough, actually." She muttered, scrolling through her phone again. Finding the number, she dialed.

"Bennett?"

"Hey, Vincent. How are you?"

"Depends on why you're calling."

"Oh…then…you're not doing so well," she hedged. "I need help, Vincent."

"What _kind_ of help?"

"We need to meet…and I need you to bring Marcel with you."

"What?!" Vincent hissed loudly into the phone. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Vincent this is serious, we need his help too. We need to hammer out a way to work together."

" _We_? As in you and _Klaus_? _We_ as in you _actually_ went and woke that sonofabitch up?!"

"Hello, Vincent." Klaus called.

" _Fuck you_."

Bonnie tried to cover her chuckle with a cough. "Vincent," she said, her voice serious. "This needs to happen. I wouldn't ask if it didn't. I'm lighting the beacons here. Gondor calls for aid."

"Ugh…I hate you."

" _I know_. How soon do you think you can get here?"

Vincent was quiet for several moments. "Give me a day…maybe two."

"Thanks, Vincent. I'll text you the address." She ended the call.

"What makes you so certain he'll be able to convince Marcel?"

"According to Vincent, Marcel ultimately wants what's best for his city. Even if the way he goes about it may not be the best. So he can't possibly think that New Orleans will survive if we fail. _Vincent will get him here_." She began scrolling through her phone and dialed another number.

She barely listened to the outgoing message before she spoke. "Hey, Tyler it's me. Can you give me a call when you get this? It's urgent. I need a favor… _a big one_. Call me back. Bye."

She turned to face the hybrid, whose eyes had narrowed and whose lips were pressed into a grim line.

" _Tyler_?"

"We need wolves. Tyler's got connections in a lot of packs now."

" _Tyler_?"

"We need him and I trust him."

" _I_ don't trust him."

"And I'm sure he doesn't trust you either. Look, you guys don't have to become buddies but you have to be able to at least stand in the same room together. We don't have time for well-earned grudges."

Klaus clenched his fists. Tyler…Marcel…Caroline…Stefan…Vincent…Because of the witch, a greatest hits line-up of his colorful past would descend upon their rather enjoyable solitude. The prospect both irritated and unsettled. He needed a break.

"You should call Celeste in for tonight."

Bonnie startled at the sudden change in conversation. "What? Why?"

"Tonight is the full moon." He reminded her. "I plan to go out."

Bonnie's eyes widened. "You're going to shift outside?"

"Of course. While your holding cell was accommodating my first night here, I would prefer to be out there tonight."

Bonnie nodded. "Yeah…yeah…it makes sense that you would. It's just that—"she began to fidget as she stared up at him.

Klaus couldn't hide his curiosity. There was something in the witch's eyes. A hopefulness and an uncertainty that intrigued him and caused a warmth to flow through his chest.

"What's on your mind, little witch?" He asked gently. The space around and between them felt heavy. Weighed down with words that neither of them could say, let alone understand. And as frustrating as such a moment should be, Klaus wanted nothing else but to stay _right there_ ; in the view of this woman whose extraordinary eyes gazed at him as though she were _trying_ to figure something out. About him or herself, he didn't know. But it's the _trying_ that moves him.

Bonnie shook herself from her reverie. "It's nothing. I've got a lot on my mind and it's getting jumbled. I'll call her in." She gave him a small smile and started walking toward the foyer.

Klaus sighed, bothered that the moment was lost and fell in step beside her.

"I can't imagine shifting into another creature," she offered to break the silence. "I know it's painful, but what's it like?"

Klaus was quiet for a moment. "It's not something easily put into words except to say that it's like being broken down to your basest self. There's a clarity that comes when all the trappings of the material world no longer matter."

"Hmm…I envy you that," Bonnie said, nodding. "It sounds like a relief."

"It is in very many ways."

"Maybe I'll try it one day."

Klaus quirked an eyebrow.

"Come on…if Damon can turn into a bird, I can certainly turn into a wolf." She gasped, turning to him, "Or maybe a lemur!"

"A shapeshifting spell?"

"I'm sure there's one around here somewhere," she shrugged.

"Well, should you decide to use it, choose something more dignified than a lemur, love?"

"Lemurs are cute." She huffed.

"As are you. And yet my suggestion remains."

Klaus held open the front door for her.

She stepped out and began calling Celeste's name. Klaus watched as the beast came loping out of the tree line towards her mistress.

Once Celeste was seated at her feet, Klaus turned to the witch. "I doubt I'll find my way back here after the shift. But in case I do, make sure the doors and windows are sealed."

Bonnie nodded, "Have fun," she said awkwardly.

The hybrid observed her for a second more before dropping a kiss on her forehead so quickly she'd almost doubted it happened. She watched him make his way towards the woods before turning to head back inside, Celeste at her heels.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Klaus walked through the woods, searching for a spot far enough away from Bonnie's house.

 _Bonnie_. He had taken up residence in her home and she had repaid him by taking up residence in his mind.

He wants her, of course. But he's finding now that he wants _more_ of her. More of her body. More of her thoughts. More of her laughter. Each day with her brings new insight into the heart that beats in her chest. And each revelation brings new questions. How can it have been broken so many times and yet still beat? It is a tattered thing for she has endured more in a short amount of time than many will over centuries. It bears the scars of ill treatment, and yet still radiates a light and warmth that is seldom if ever seen. And he _wants_ it. Even as it still mourns, _he wants it_. Something so rare and fine can belong to no one else.

 _And yet potential obstacles were mere days away_.

The witch was right. They needed reinforcements. The witch believed she could sway his vengeful childe. Normally he would doubt such a thing out of hand. But Bonnie had proven she could accomplish whatever she set her mind to enough times already.

He knows that she will have her army. He knows that she will build her prison world. He knows that their enemy will be vanquished. To live as long as he, requires looking beyond whatever current crisis to prepare for the next. And _next_ that is what disturbs. What would he do after this?

After they have achieved victory, he will go to Vermont to both reclaim and find a cure for his family.

But what of _her_? What of Bonnie? He hasn't even tasted her lips and yet the thought of being parted from her causes his insides to twist. He cannot see the path in which to reclaim all that he has lost now, but he knows that he wants… _needs_ her with him. And it's the need that unsettles him. It's the need that burrows down deep to where everything wild and hungry dwells and aches to call out to her.

He feels the telltale twinge in his back and begins removing his clothing. His thoughts are cluttered. It will be a relief to disappear into the wolf for a time.

 **BKBKBKB**

Bonnie stood in the center of the Bennett archive. The spells she needs are in here. She just needs to find them. She poured herself a shot of bourbon.

"Ok Celeste, time to do some spell hunting." She closed her eyes and stretched out her arms. She focused her intent and muttered the retrieval spell. When she opened her eyes, there were several grimoires floating in the air before her.

"Woah." She motioned them over to a nearby table when she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. When she saw the incoming call, she inhaled deeply.

"Hey Tyler."

"Bonnie? I got your message. Is everything ok?"

"Yeah. Things are coming along well. So well that Stefan and Caroline are on their way back here."

"It's that time?"

"Yeah, I've got some meetings set up in the next couple of days. We need some numbers on our side…which is why I called."

"What do you need?"

"Are you connected to any alphas in Northeast Atlantic?"

"Yeah," Tyler answered slowly.

"You think you can get any of them to come up here and meet? Maybe even join up?"

Tyler was quiet for moment. "I can't say whether they'll join, but I can get them to hear you out."

"Thanks, Ty. The sooner the better." She chewed her bottom lip. "There's something else."

"What is it?"

"Klaus is here."

Silence and then, "Are you kidding me?"

"No. I'm not. He's been here for the past month. We've been working together."

"Bonnie are you nuts?! He's the _last_ person any of us need."

"Tyler we've got a plan now. A real one. That wouldn't be the case right now if he hadn't been here. I know the shit between you two, but I need his help right now. And I just…I don't know…I just think we all need to be on the same page."

"And what page is that, Bon?" Tyler's voice was harsh. "Am I supposed to come up there and sing kumbaya with the asshole who made ruining my life his favorite hobby? Do you _know_ who you sound like right now?"

The implication stung. " _No_. That is not what I'm asking. I would never ask that. I don't want you to sing, hold hands, or even say good morning if you don't want to. I'm asking you to exist in the same space without trying to kill each other.

"For how long?"

"Just until this Bob thing gets resolved, obviously. Then you can go back to staying out of each other's way."

"You sure about that?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bonnie said, sighing. She could feel a headache coming on.

"Things with Klaus are never that cut and dry, Bonnie. _What does he want_?"

"He doesn't want anything. This isn't a situation where we can afford to want anything other than to win. It's in everyone's-including his-best interest that we do. I think he knows that. I trust that he knows that."

"Do Caroline and Stefan know?"

"Not yet, but they will."

"I don't know about this, Bon."

"Tyler, I get it. Hell, I get it more than anyone. But right now we need his help. _I_ need his help. I'm not asking you to get over anything. I'm not asking you to _excuse_ anything. I'm just asking you to keep your eye on the _ball_ …not on Klaus."

The werewolf was quiet for so long that Bonnie almost thought he'd hung up. Then finally, "I'll call you back in a few days, Bonnie."

"Tyler—"

"I'll call you back." He ended the call.

Bonnie massaged her temples. This was only going to get harder. She already knew without knowing that Tyler's issues with the hybrid paled in comparison to everything Marcel was stewing on. And while Stefan and Caroline were definitely on much better terms with him than Tyler or Marcel, that reunion was littered with landmines just waiting to go off.

Her pride still stung from Tyler's backhanded dig. She did _not_ sound like Elena. When Elena decided to have Damon in her life, she'd thrust him upon the rest of them with platitudes about how he wasn't so bad and that he was changing. That may have been true, but her need to see the good in him should not have overshadowed his impact on her best friends, or her brother or even Stefan. And none of them should have been made to feel guilty for their feelings about him. But in the end, she'd shown more compassion for the vampire that abused, attacked, manipulated and killed people she'd known her whole life, than for those very people themselves.

No matter how she feels about Klaus, she would never do that.

 _And how did she feel about him_? She'd like to say that her attraction to him boiled down to good old fashioned, red-blooded horniness. But it was more than that. She was at ease with him in a way she hadn't expected let alone thought possible. There was a strength to him that offered itself to her and without even planning to, she'd offered the same to him.

But he wanted more from her. She _knew_ it. She saw it every time he watched her when he thought she wasn't looking. She felt it when he held her as though his arms were exactly where she belonged. And she heard it in his voice when he talked to her, revealing a heart as war torn as her own. Revealing things she knows he's spoken to no one else. And it's only now that she's willing to admit that she has returned every look, every touch and every word in kind.

They were two people stuck in a house under extreme circumstances. The similarities between this and her years with Enzo were unmistakable. But where loneliness and abandonment fueled the attraction between them, it felt quite different with the hybrid.

There was a respect there. A mutual appreciation for the individuals they'd become. It was fascinating, the views of Klaus she'd been offered. Had he done thousands of horrible things to all and sundry? _Yes_. Was he capable of doing thousands more? _Yes_.

Did she want to change him? _No_.

It wasn't her job. And that is something that had taken her a long time to understand. It isn't her job to change someone or even make them want to change. She didn't want to change or wrangle or handle him and he wasn't one to suffer such. He owned his shit. And it is that self-possession that draws her.

Because for all his virtues and faults, Niklaus Mikaelson is a grown ass man in every sense. And to be quite honest, she's never encountered one of those before.

… _And she likes it_.

When Bob is cooling his heels in her prison world, Klaus will leave. He will return to his life and rebuild it however he sees fit. And she will miss him. Hell, she misses him _now_. When he told her he was spending the night outside, she'd almost asked him to stay. She's been alone for most of her life and she's not afraid to be alone again. But the ease his presence brings comes with a warmth that she's begun to crave. And a fire burns when he looks at her in _just that way_. It makes her want to know more…feel more…

And yet sitting in the corner watching her attempt to sort out the puzzle that is her heart, is _Enzo_. He's gone. _She knows it_. While it had taken her too long to accept that he could not be saved, she had known it was over long before. Love takes time and care between _two_ people. And without that it eventually withers and dies from neglect or twists into something that makes waiting 145 years to open a tomb seem like a good idea. She didn't want that for herself. While she was in no way ready to plan out the next several decades of her life, she knew she did not want _that_. She _loved_ him. She always would. But she'd been falling out of love for a while and was nearing the bottom.

Bonnie shook her head, scattering her thoughts. There were more pressing issues at hand than the deconstruction of her love life. She used her magic to stack the grimoires and floated them behind her as she left the archive and retreated to her room.

 **BKBKBKBK**

The night air was sweet with the scent of blood as he ran. He'd hunted and he'd killed. The flesh of his prey still in his teeth; its blood still on his tongue. He ran through the trees, relishing the wind in his face. _This is life_. Soft earth and tender flesh. And yet there's an ache; a deep longing within the barrel of his chest. And so he runs hard and fast toward relief.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Bonnie shut the grimoire in her hands with a gentle thud. She'd found a binding spell strong enough to work. It had been created by her ancestor Gladys Bennett in 1925. She'd created it to bind a crazy ass witch who'd killed thirty-six people and activated an Expression Triangle in _Mississippi_ of all places.

The spell was simple, but complicated in its details. Complicated because Gladys spelled a bullet and shot the bastard with it. He survived the wound, but the magic that had been in him at the time became permanently inaccessible. As if everything that made him a witch was encased in stone. If the spell was strong enough to harness the amount of power an active Expression Triangle produced, it should be strong enough to bind the spells necessary to create the prison world. After all, the power of an active Expression Triangle brought down the veil to the Other Side.

But the spell was designed for internal use. Meaning it need to be _inside_ a body in order to work. Was she going to have to spell a bullet?

 _The blade_. If she spelled Tunde's blade, not only would it lock down Bob in whatever supernatural body he inhabited, it would bind him to the other five spells and activate the world. She searched her mind for any flaws in her theory and found none. Satisfied, she reached for another book when she felt a warmth bloom in her chest. She sat up and frowned. The feeling wasn't unfamiliar, she'd been feeling it for several days now whenever Klaus was near.

 _Klaus_.

She climbed off her bed and padded over to the largest window in her room. She turned the crank to open one panel and peered out.

She saw him. _Him_. The wolf. He stood silently in the moonlight. All thick black fur and yellow eyes. He watched her. As if he been standing there waiting for her to see him. His massive head tilted up and he howled…long and loud.

Bonnie had heard the howling of a wolf many times before. And yet the longing that was carried along this, wrapped itself around her and pulled. And she could do nothing but gasp in response as she watched him turn dash off into the woods.

A/N: This is kind of a maintenance chapter. Stuff happens but not a whole lot of stuff happens. There's been so much active engagement between Klonnie for the past few updates that I wanted to give them both a chance to start sorting themselves out. Especially since everybody's going to start showing up and complications ensue and a lot more stuff's going to happen in the next update.

I'm so glad that everyone's digging Bonnie having to build a prison world. One thing that bugged me on the show is that she really hasn't had a chance to *learn* about magic. So my meta is that since she's been living in magical archive all this time, that she's developed an understanding about magical theory I guess. And while the spirits are feeding her information, what she's learned through her experiences and personal study help her understand and apply it.

Nekilarose: I wouldn't say that the Original Family loved Ayanna more than their mother back then. I think that their feelings for Ayanna weren't complicated like with Esther and so she was able to rub off on them more effectively in certain ways.

Guest: We already know S8 and S4 are gonna be a shit show. That's why I'm so frustrated! Grrrrrrr!

Anyway, as I told Anastasia-G, this fic has been really cathartic as far as my feelings for both of these shows. So thank you for coming along for my therapy session.

I need to do some research on some Klarcel scenes before I start the next update (yes that's a spoiler) so I wouldn't expect another update until at least Sunday.

Thanks for the reviews and follows. Cheers!


	12. Formal Introductions

**Formal Introductions**

 _Marcel Gerard stared at the gaping hole before him. It looked like a wound. And from it, someone had extracted his enemy…his prisoner...his sire._

 _He'd been careless. He hadn't ordered the shift change to compensate for his less than frequent visits to the Garden. And a part of him believed that no one was foolish enough to move against him; to unleash a thing ten times worse than he could ever be._

 _After he'd sentenced Klaus, most of the hybrid's former sirelings pledged their allegiance to him as had any surviving member of the Strix. He was king and his subjects were eager to celebrate the fall the Original Family._

 _The first few weeks brought the warzone that Vincent had feared. His vampires fed on all and sundry; uncaring about detection or repercussion. After Vincent reclaimed the church, he sent his witches out to protect the innocent. But after years of subjugation under both himself and his sire along with the abuse of the ancestors, the witches of the Nine Covens were less interested in protection and more interested in payback. And while the loss of their link to the ancestors weakened their power, they were still a formidable force._

 _The streets were littered with the bodies of vampires and witches alike._

 _Without a means to subdue magic in the Quarter, Marcel was left with one of two options: Keep fighting until there's nothing left on either side; or strike a deal for a cease fire."_

 _He chose the latter. He gathered his people together and reintroduced them to the rule of law. Cleaned up the Quarter, making it safe for humans. He and Vincent agreed that the church and thus the witches would become a kind of independent state within the city. However, if Marcel found even a hint of insurgency, the violence would begin again; consequences be damned. And while witches may be powerful, they aren't immortal and have no way of replenishing their numbers quickly. It was a strained peace, but peace nonetheless and it lasted for nearly 7 years._

 _And yet here he stands, in front of a wound made of brick and mortar and he knows that this has_ _witch_ _written all over it._

" _Did you do this?" He asked aloud, hearing approaching footsteps._

" _Me? No." Vincent answered, coming up to stand beside him._

" _But you know who did." Marcel demanded flatly._

 _Vincent nodded, "Mmhm. The Bennett Witch."_

" _Which one?" The last Bennett to enter New Orleans had been decades ago._

" _The only one left as far as I know. Bonnie Bennett."_

" _Only one? Perfect." He turned to face the witch, pointing. "You're gonna tell me where she is and we're going to get back what she stole."_

" _Oh no…no no…I don't know where she is and even if I did, I'm not fucking with her."_

" _Why not?" the vampire demanded._

" _She's a Bennett witch, Marcel." The witch sighed, tiredly. "The mountain of power that bloodline sits on ain't what you want, man."_

" _We've already been through the best your kind can offer. Esther was the most powerful witch that ever lived."_

 _Vincent burst into laughter, "Who told you that?"_

" _Rebekah."_

" _Do yourself a favor…don't confuse Mikaelson arrogance with actual fact. The first immortality spell was created by the Bennett bloodline 1000 before your kind walked the earth. The witch who created the Other Side was a Bennett. The witch that helped create the Ancestral Well was a Bennett. The witches that wiped out all of the Expressionists back in the 20s were Bennetts. The witch that desiccated Mikael? Not only is she a Bennett, she's Bonnie's mama and she was nowhere near as strong as Bonnie when she did it._

" _Vampires…daylight rings…moonlight rings…none of it exists without Bennett magic. So when the sole heir to that magic rolls through and steals your big bad Daddy, you just let that shit go and hope that's the end of it." He tilted his head. "Klaus never told you about this girl?"_

" _No. Was she his witch or something?" Klaus having a witch in his bed and in his back pocket wasn't a rarity._

" _Not likely. Not with as many times as she's tried to put him out of everybody's misery. Do you know how many times his sire line came close to blinking out of existence because of this witch and her bloodline?"_

" _Then what does she want with him?"_

 _Marcel's eyes, narrowed as Vincent hedged on answering him. "What do you know?"_

" _Look, it's not my place to say right now. Just that whatever she wants with him, it's got nothing to do with you and it's got nothing to do with us and you should keep it that way."_

" _That's not good enough Vincent!"_

" _Well that's all you're gonna get, Marcel! I won't cross her on this."_

 _Marcel grabbed the witch by his collar. "I'm supposed just let some uber-witch sneak into my city and take what's mine?" He seethed._

" _Yeah," the witch replied, shrugging the vampires off of him. "Because if she took him, she had a damn good reason. I trust her to deal with him however she needs to because with all that power she's got comes a healthy dose of something Klaus never had and you've forgotten all about:_ _decency_ _."_

 **BKBKBKBK**

Klaus walked up to Bonnie's front door and smiled. The witch had written her key code on a post-it note. He snatched it off, entering the code and stepped inside.

By the sound of her breathing, she was sleeping peacefully. He listened for a moment more before making his way to the stairs. The shift had helped. The clutter of his mind was decidedly tidier. The witch wanted to bring his enemies into the fold. She trusted their ability to see reason. _The bigger picture_. So be it.

If Vincent or Marcel or Tyler betrays her trust, then they will simply pay for that error. He will not allow their feelings for him to jeopardize her or her goals.

When he reached the second floor, he looked down the hall and saw that the witch's bedroom door was open. From the looks of it, she'd passed out amidst her research. As he entered her room, he noticed she'd brought two whiteboards up. One displayed diagrams, magical symbols and notes hastily written in her script. The other was a list of names he couldn't identify.

Her bed was covered in grimoires and post-it notes. More notations, more symbols and more diagrams. The witch herself lay across, her head resting on her arm. Her hair was a tousled mess and she'd slapped a post-it note on her cheek. _Don't let me sleep too long,_ it read. He smiled fondly as he gently pushed her books and papers aside, making a space for himself. A ghosting of his knuckles across her cheek as he lifted the note from her face and her eyes began to flutter open. Once they focused on him, her bow-like lips widened into a warm smile.

"Good Morning."

Bonnie stretched as she sat up "You're back. How'd it go?"

"Quite well." He motioned toward the controlled chaos of her room. "I see you've been busy."

Bonnie nodded, still stretching. Klaus' eyes lazily journeyed along the rise and swell of her breasts as she moved. When he gaze returned to her face, he found impish green eyes laughing at him.

"Could you _be_ more obvious?"

"Are you sure you want me to answer that?" He asked, displaying a playful smirk.

Bonnie snorted, rising to her feet. Once she'd completely shaken sleep off, she looked at the hybrid. He was different. There was still a bit of wolf about him; the wild, musk-filled earthiness of his shift still emanated from him. Her mind flashed back to the wolf outside her window.

 _Looks like he_ _found his way into her room_ , she smirked.

"I talked to Tyler," She said lightly. Best to get it out of the way now.

"And what does the pup have to say for himself?"

"Well…He's going to connect me with an alpha from Northeast Atlantic, he hates your guts, he thinks I'm acting like Elena and he'll call me back in a couple of days," Bonnie counted off on her fingers.

"He thinks you're acting like _Elena_?" the hybrid scoffed.

"That's _all_ you got from all that?"

"The other three were reasonable assurances. _This_ is blatant stupidity."

"It's not stupid. Given the track record of our circle of friends, it's totally reasonable to be worried about someone being guided by their hormones." She began gathering up the books on her bed.

"And are you _guided_ by your hormones, little witch?"

Bonnie planted a knee on the bed, leaning her body over until she was face to face with the hybrid. She inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with the scent of him.

"Nope," she said, smiling smugly. "You?"

" _Absolutely_ ," he smirked, eliciting a grin from the witch. She pushed herself off the bed and moved toward the whiteboards.

"While you were communing with nature," she began, rolling the boards into his view, "I drank a ridiculous amount of coffee and pulled an all-nighter. And the end result is…tada!" She waved her arm dramatically towards one of the boards. "The spells…well…most of them anyway. There's one left, but I needed a nap," she explained. The witch was wearing a faded Whitmore College t-shirt and pair of pajama shorts that revealed her shapely legs. She was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet with exuberance.

Klaus moved to the edge of the bed and took both boards in. "What on _earth_ am I looking at?"

She gestured toward one board. " _That_ ," she said, pointing "is a diagram of the circle structure. Out back is big enough to lay it down. And _those_ are four of the spells. Each of them is a barrier spell keyed into the one of the four elements. They're supposed to be cast one of top of the other and create the actual world. This along with a binding spell and a power source is all you'd need to make worlds like the ones made for the Gemini Coven."

"Which we don't want."

"Right, we _don't_. The difference between those worlds and the Other Side is the fifth spell. And that's a spell I have to create myself."

"Why?"

"Because it sets the rules that govern the world. Without it, that world just becomes a reflection of this one. I can't try to recreate the spell Qetsiyah did because the rules she set for the Other Side won't work for us. She wanted a supernatural purgatory. I want a supernatural Super Max. Twenty-four hour lock down. No meals. No yard time." She stamped her small bare foot for emphasis.

"Sounds nasty," Klaus said, resting his elbows on his knees. The dark circles under her eyes told of how little sleep she'd gotten. But her feline eyes were alight with inspiration. Her skin was flushed and her heart was happily racing. He understood moments like this. He'd experienced them himself whenever a thought or feeling consumed and needed expression on canvas.

"In more ways than one," she went on. "On the night of the comet, I need to use its energy to open a door to the astral plane, which thankfully is a simple enough spell. Once the door is open, I need to cast all five spells, bind Bob to them and get out before the door closes."

Klaus frowned. "Get out?"

Bonnie sighed deeply, "After the barrier spells are cast, I need to be in the prison world with Bob and the blade in order to cast the final spell."

"And if you don't get out before the door closes?"

"If I'm still over there when the door closes, then my connection to both my body and my magic will be cut off. I'll be stuck," she explained, keeping her tone light. She glanced over at the hybrid. His face was unreadable as he inhaled sharply and straightened.

"I can do this, Klaus," she said, earnestly. "I know I can. But from the moment the door to the astral opens, I've got an hour tops until it closes. That's why we need an army. To make every second of that hour count and point Bob in my direction when the time is right."

Klaus sat in silence. He didn't doubt the witch's resolve or her ability. But how many times had the best laid plans—even her own—been disrupted by the ebb and flow of chance? The thought was unsettling.

If her chances can be improved, then he would see to it that they are. He took her hand, intertwining their fingers before looking at her again.

"Then you shall have your army."

Bonnie smiled, silently thanking him for not pressing the issue. After he'd made his feelings known about the linking spell yesterday, she didn't know if she'd be up to another round.

"Good," she said. "Because I also got a text from Vincent. He and Marcel left New Orleans last night. They'll be here later this evening." The hybrid's jaw ticked, but he said nothing.

"Klaus…"

"Vincent, I am not concerned with," he interrupted. "He told you where the blade was located and has kept faith with you in the weeks hence. _Marcel_ on the other hand…he is no longer who he once was."

The consequences of existing within the Mikaelson orbit had done their damage. His childe's rage was justified and he'd said as much. However the means by which he'd chosen to seek his vengeance were completely unacceptable. Elijah and Kol bitten…Freya poisoned…his daughter and her mother forced to flee. Justified though he may be, Marcel had broken their House and condemned Hope to life without her father. And it _that_ is what angered him most. Had Bonnie not unearthed him, Hope very likely would have gone her entire life without ever truly knowing him. Having only a hastily written note and her mother to tell the tale. It struck too closely to his own life. Laid too plainly the foundations of a path he never wanted for her.

And for that, he can _never_ forgive Marcel.

"What are you going to do when he gets here?" Bonnie asked.

"I haven't decided," he said lightly. "What Marcel has done to my family—and that _includes_ _him_ -is unforgiveable. But as you say, necessity demands that I move on."

Bonnie came to sit beside him. "Can you?"

The hybrid smirked. "I suppose we're going to find out, aren't we?"

 **BKBKBKBK**

"So what's she like?"

"Who? Bonnie Bennett?"

Marcel nodded. They'd set out for the second leg of their trip earlier that morning. He was still vacillating between disbelief and anger. Vincent showed up at his home yesterday afternoon to tell him that after a month of using all means to locate her, the Bennett Witch had invited them to her home. To _talk_.

" _She didn't come here for Klaus, Marcel. She came for the blade," the witch finally confessed._

" _Why?"_

" _Those two vampires out west? Salvatore and St. John? She said she's working on a way to deal with them and needed the blade to do it._

 _Marcel's eyes narrowed. He began hearing those names about four years ago. They'd been tearing up and down the west coast leaving a noticeable amount of bodies in their wake. Noticeable enough to draw enough attention to risk discovery by the human world. And while humans are weaker, they're also more resourceful and more plentiful. They needed to be brought to heel._

 _Unfortunately, stories of supernaturals going after them to do just that, always ended in death or their assimilation. New Orleans could be very isolated when it came to the greater supernatural community, but when stories start trickling in about vampires who seemed to be raising some kind of cult army that peddling freedom through "cleansing", you look into it._

 _He sent a couple of his guys. They didn't come back. He sent a couple more along with a few witches from outside the city. Nothing. Two years later, he started hearing reports that they were on the move. Popping up and collecting recruits in random areas across the continent. Rumors had their army's numbers at anywhere between 250 and 500 strong._

 _And now this Bennett Witch had taken not only Tunde's blade, but the rotten bastard it was lodged in to fight them. His jaw ticked in irritation. "What does she want?"_

" _She's got a plan and she needs allies to pull it off. She needs us," the witch explained._

"What's to say?" He heard Vincent answer, drawing him from his thoughts. "She's short…hot…powerful…and persuasive."

"How long have you known her?"

"Never laid eyes on her before the night she took Klaus."

"Then why are you fangirling all over her?" Marcel made the exasperation in his voice plain.

Vincent shrugged. "She made a very good first impression."

"Yeah, whatever," The only reason he was even entertaining this trip was that fact he was now hearing whispers that the Terror Twins had started recruiting in Louisiana. Neither they nor any of their ilk had turned up in New Orleans. But they were now too close to his doorstep.

"What are you going to do if Klaus is there?"

Marcel shrugged. The moment he saw that Klaus had been taken, he realized that he'd fallen into the same trap the Mikaelsons had over the centuries. He'd allowed sentiment to cloud his judgment. He'd allowed Rebekah's appeal for Klaus' suffering to override his own desire to see the hybrid dead. He ignored the fact that elimination trumps detention in the supernatural world more often than not. Yes, he'd condemned Klaus to eternal suffering, but he still _lived_. And now he was _free_.

"Only thing I can do…I'm ripping his throat out. _Then_ I'll talk to the witch."

 **BKBKBKBK**

" _They're supposed to meet me at the barrier. Vincent said he'd text when they were close." They'd returned to her room later in the day, going over the spells and the mountain of items she would need in order to complete them. Most were already at her disposal and she was certain that Vincent would be able to help with the rest._

 _She stood in front of her white boards. Her mind was already working on the fifth spell._

" _You still haven't told me," Klaus began, coming up to stand behind her. "What this is for." He motioned to the other whiteboard bearing a list of names before resting his hands on her shoulders._

" _That…is my peace offering to Marcel," she answered. "The spirits are a bunch of gossips. You wouldn't_ _believe_ _the mess that's going on in New Orleans right under his nose." The heat of the hybrid's body beat against her. She was used to his desire to invade her space and she enjoyed. But his wolfishness still hadn't fully dialed back yet and his stance behind her felt…predatory. He made her feel cornered amid so much space and her mind debated whether or not the flutter of nervousness descending on her was apprehension or anticipation._

 _Her gut told her it was both._

" _And these names are the mess?"_

 _Bonnie nodded. "And he'll get them on the condition he agrees to supply some vampire muscle in exchange."_

 _Klaus dipped his head, his mouth inches from her ear. "And are you going to tell me who they are?"_

 _She shook her head slowly, causing his lips to graze the shell of her ear briefly. Her throat was suddenly dry and before she could stop herself, her tongue darted out and licked her lips. She hoped he hadn't noticed._

 _He noticed._

 _His hand drifted from her shoulders and slid down her arms, leaving a garden of goosebumps in their wake. "Why not?" Bonnie's responses to him never ceased to please. The way her heart picked up speed; the blood rushing through her veins, sounding like a waterfall. The warmth that suffused her bronzed skin, making it glow. He nuzzled her ear, smiling at shiver that claimed her._

" _Because…" His scent was overwhelming her, as she felt his nose, trail down her neck and rest in the curve of her shoulder. He was wreaking havoc with her thoughts as she felt him breathe in. "Shock value," she said, softly._

" _Hmm…it's that good?" He pressed his cheek against hers, as his large hand came around to rest on her stomach; pressing her into him. As needed as his shift had been, he found that he missed the feel of her. And from the way she leaned into him, he knew she'd missed him too._

 _The thought made him tighten his hold on her._

" _It's a doozy," she breathed, nearly forgetting what they were supposed to be discussing. How could she think when all she wanted at the moment was to turn around and claim the beast that held her, even for a moment?_

 _Her cellphone made the decision for her by going off. She stretched out her hand and the device flew into it. "It's Vincent," she said softly, feeling both of their ardors begin to cool. "They'll be here in about two hours."_

 _Klaus growled in quiet annoyance. He could see the witch's mind already beginning to return to the task at hand as she gently broke his hold on her and moved away, texting a response._

 **BKBKBKBK**

They stood together at the barrier. Klaus' heightened vision saw the dirt being kicked up by an approaching vehicle in the distance.

"They're coming." He announced to the witch beside him.

"Any last minute advice before they get here?" Bonnie was nervous. She wasn't stupid enough to expect things to go smoothly, but she couldn't ignore the fact that things started off on the wrong foot between her and Marcel Gerard the moment she freed Klaus.

"You only need remember that I have been his sire and that comes with a great deal. Act accordingly."

Bonnie looked up at the hybrid, slightly baffled. "Um…Okay…That doesn't really tell me much…

Klaus looked down at the witch, "Tyler loathes me and I was only in his life for a matter of months. I _raised_ Marcel.

Bonnie nodded, understanding, "So basically, I'm dealing with you?"

"After a fashion," he smirked. "Although he did have a more kind and forgiving heart once."

"What happened?"

"Elijah ripped it out."

Bonnie looked out to see a black SUV stop several feet in front of them. Vincent climbed out of the passenger side.

"Careful," she advised, waving an index finger in the air. "Barrier spell."

Vincent nodding and walked toward them as Marcel Gerard climbed out of the driver's side. _Not bad_. His face was a mask of barely contained anger but it didn't detract from vampire's handsomeness.

"You'd better have a damn good reason for bringing me out here, witch. And it'd better start with you returning what you stole." He stalked toward them, meeting Vincent on the other side of the barrier.

"I don't think I like your tone," Klaus said, smoothly.

"Oh yeah?" the vampire scoffed, "Come out here and do something about it. Or are you too busy hiding behind the witch's skirts?"

"Um, the witch has a name."

Marcel turned his eyes toward the witch. "The only thing I need to hear from you right now, is when you plan on returning _my_ prisoner to _my_ custody."

"Well that's easy…never." She folded her arms across her chest. Klaus wasn't kidding. Even through the barrier, she could feel the cold fury coming off of him. He made the image of Klaus hurling pieces of a picket fence through Elena's house, come to mind.

"You want this conversation to go any further, you'd better change that plan." He advised, speaking to the witch as he glared at Klaus.

"Oh, come now, Marcel. It's been 7 years, don't you think you should have gotten over this by now?"

"I don't know. Can anyone mention Mikael's name without you bursting a blood vessel?"

"Were they always like this?" She drowned out the snarling and turned to Vincent.

"When they weren't on the same side? Yep."

"If it weren't for you and your miserable fucking family—"

"Oh please…If I have to hear this song and dance again I'll shove that blasted blade back in myself. Are you forgetting that Rebekah is a part of that family?"

"A fact she was real proud of, wasn't she?" Marcel taunted. "Where are they Klaus, hidden in boxes somewhere until the coast is clear? Where's Haley? Where's Hope?"

The hybrid's eyes narrowed. "You will not speak her name," he warned. "Not after what you've done.

" _Please…_ as someone raised by you, I did that child a favor she will _never_ be able to repay."

They lunged at each other each, slamming into the barrier for their effort.

Bonnie watched them. They were two rabid dogs separated by a chain link fence. If she didn't get a handle on this, that was all they would be.

She was reminded of her father. He wasn't an active parent. He rarely was present, if at all. And so there weren't many things that she could attribute to learning from him...save one:

Whether selling a product while traveling on business or speaking with the Mystic Falls City Council as mayor, her father always said that one vital aspect of a leadership role was...the ability to control the meeting.

Bonnie lifted her arm and struck the barrier hard. Sire and childe flew several yards in opposite directions, hitting the ground hard.

Go hard or go home. She inhaled deeply and then slipped through the barrier, leaving nothing between her and the King of New Orleans but space and opportunity.

Marcel was up and glaring, his pupils retracting into small red dots. His fangs descended and he snarled. If this witch wanted to put herself in harm's way, he had no problem making it worth her while.

"Bonnie, get back here!" Klaus demanded. The witch had clearly lost her mind. Kol and Elijah being bitten played on a continuous loop in his thoughts.

"You think you can come into _my_ city. _Take_ what's mine. And then expect a fucking chat?! His hands were around her throat in an instant, lifting her off the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Vincent move towards her and waved him off as she felt the vampire's fingers tighten. She closed her eyes and focused, ignoring the physical complaints of having the life choked out of you.

"You're gonna hand that miserable fuck over or –" Marcel began to blink frantically. A dull pain began to wash over him, sharpening itself into a near blinding pang. A pressure that was beginning to build within him suddenly burst and he couldn't tell if he was drowning or hollowing out. The strength in his fingers faded until he finally released her and doubled over. Bonnie fell to her knees. She kept her eyes trained on him as she gasped for air, watching as thin rivulets of blood began bloom on his face and neck.

"What—" His mouth was filling with blood. He could feel his tongue trying to dissolve into liquid and along with it, his rage. All that remained was blood and fear. He turned his viscera-filled eyes toward the witch. He may not know what the witch was doing, but he knew he was dying.

The witch lured him here to kill him.

"You're liquefying from the inside out right now." Bonnie said, answering the unspoken question. "You're actually _seeping_ through your own pores." His face was awash in his own blood and his legs suddenly lost the ability to support him.

When the vampire fell to his knees, she came to stand before him. "I'm going slow right now, but this rate your bones won't go for a while. She reached down and lifted his chin with her slender fingers, he blood coating them.

"Do you know why I can keep this up?" She asked. "I think _happy thoughts_. It's weird I know, but it works. You see my thoughts aren't _happy_ most of the time. Certainly not within the last few years. But the ones I have…I like to dwell on. They help me to focus on what's important."

"Vin…Vin…" Marcel gagged.

"Don't look at me…I warned you not to fuck with her." Vincent replied, leaning against the barrier and folding his arms.

Bonnie knelt before the vampire, taking his face fully in her hands. He was no longer glaring. There was something to be said about a disproportionate response. She thinks Klaus might be starting to rub off on her.

"You wouldn't listen to Vincent, but please listen to me," she continued. "I _want_ us to be civil. And if you agree to that, then I can stop this." Blood continued to flow, coating her fingers. The vampire seemed to be collapsing in on himself with Bonnie's hands the only thing keeping him somewhat upright.

"Now, are you willing to listen…or do I need to keep thinking happy thoughts?"

_  
Sorry for the delay. The rewatch of TO was longer (and more painful) than I anticipated (shout out to Anastasia-G for cheerleading me through it), plus work kicked my ass yesterday.

Jayjay: The first kiss is coming...sooner rather than later, I promise.

Thanks for the reads and reviews!


	13. Parley

**Parley**

"How is he?" Bonnie asked as she sat on her bed. Once Klaus and Vincent managed to get Marcel inside the house, Bonnie took to her room to shower off the vampire's blood.

"Vincent is tending to him. He's making a rather _spectacular_ dent in our blood supply."

Bonnie nodded. "As soon as he's able, we should finish this in the conference room."

Klaus came to sit beside her. Her hair was still damp and curling; her face scrubbed clean. She wore her bright yellow bathrobe, revealing the bruises that were beginning to form where Marcel's hands had been. A flash of white hot anger shot through him at the sight. And yet it paled in comparison to the riot of emotions he'd felt less than 30 minutes ago.

Despite the fury they'd exchanged, he'd been glad to see Marcel when he stepped out the car. He'd always been a handsome lad and the seemingly permanent scowl on his face didn't suit him. However scowl or no, he was _alive_.

When he thought Marcel dead, it was as if his own heart had been ripped out. Never in his immortal life had he felt a pain so keenly. It had surprised him how sharply everything had come into focus. Marcel's hurt and anger over Davina, the insolence regarding Lucien's serum, Elijah's suspicions...none of it had mattered. _His son was dead_.

When he saw that Marcel still lived, the intense relief resonated just as keenly.

He'd felt that relief again today.

Yet just as it had been seven years ago, his relief soon turned to anger. Anger at his manner with Bonnie, followed by the words they'd flung at each other. They'd picked up right where they'd left off.

Then Bonnie sent them both flying and before he could stop her, she'd slipped through the barrier. When he saw her dangling from Marcel's grasp, his fear for her was so great he felt himself involuntarily begin to shift, his wolf mad with the need to reach her. But her bloody barrier held him in, leaving him to do nothing but watch and rage.

There had only been a handful of times he'd felt truly powerless.

The witch and her boldness added another to the list.

As she fell to the ground— _alive_ —the relief returned, only to be cast aside just as quickly when he saw the horror she was unleashing on Marcel. A most peculiar war broke out within him. His concern for Marcel's fate locked in conflict with the wave of lustful pride that hit him as he watched her introduce herself with the same cold resolve he'd first witnessed when she tried to kill him in her high school cafeteria.

She'd finally permitted his passage through the barrier when Marcel weakly nodded his assent to her request for civility. He and Vincent gingerly lifted him and placed him in the back of his SUV. Vincent had given him some of his own blood along with what remained in a cooler they'd brought with them.

And now here the witch sat, looking all of a teenager again and it stuns him. To go from blood soaked queen to wide-eyed siren in the time it takes to turn a faucet.

"I'm sorry," She said, quietly.

"I knew you wouldn't kill him, love."

"I know...but still…I'm sorry I had to do that. He's your kid."

"I think he'd be hard pressed to disagree with you on that account."

"He can if wants to…but _God_ , he's _your_ kid," she answered, offering up a dry chuckle.

Klaus laughed ruefully in return. "Indeed he is."

"How are you?" Her eyes searched his face as if she were trying to see for herself.

"I'm exhausted, aren't you?"

Bonnie snorted, nodding. "Yeah…but you two were doing a lot out there. Are you ok?"

The hybrid sighed, "Marcel and I are under the same roof and neither of us is dead yet. It is as it should be." He started rolling up his sleeve.

"What are you doing?

"The bruising on your neck, you need blood."

She placed a hand over his wrist. "Until we can hammer out a deal with Marcel, I don't think it's a good idea for me to be walking around with your blood in my system." She slid her hand down to grasp his and squeezed, "But thank you." She smiled, turning her large green eyes to him.

"I don't suppose he'll be in a better mood after all that, huh?" Bonnie asked, quietly, still holding his hand.

"Hardly. To go from being invincible to practically needing to be carted about in a bucket can be a blow. A blow I can understand having been on the receiving end of the ire of Bonnie Bennett in the past."

Bonnie laughed, "What?"

"Imagine if you will, having spent a millennia trying to break an unjust curse and succeeding; only to have a tiny teenaged witch come striding out, hellbent on killing you and carrying enough power to do it."

Bonnie nodded, agreeing. "I was _totally_ going to kill you. If Elijah hadn't double-crossed us, you wouldn't be here," she said.

"And neither would you," Klaus pointed out. "If Elijah's intervention prevented that, then I suppose I owe him more than I previously thought."

Bonnie felt heat rising in her face as she blushed. "Don't try to make it sound better than it is," she chided. "Once he's cured...I'm kicking his ass on principle,"

" _If_ he's cured. Once Bob is sent permanently to his room, I will begin the rather daunting task of restoring my family. And considering that I have two brothers incurably bitten, one sister incurably hexed and another poisoned with the cure for her lost to me..." When laid out so succinctly, the likelihood of curing his brothers and sisters before Hope became an adult seemed minimal.

"Oh _please_ …you know I'm going to help you if I can," Bonnie scoffed.

"Are you?" The hybrid looked as though the idea had never crossed his mind.

"Well…yeah…I mean we're friends. Friends help their friends when they need it. Besides, it's not like I don't have the resources. If cures for them can be found, the first place I'd look would be here." She smiled at the look on his face. "You look like someone who's not used to having someone willingly do something for you."

"Not without wanting something in exchange…like their lives," came the smug reply.

"Well, as long as it doesn't involve me sacrificing my life or anyone else's…"

"I would _never_ ask you to do that," Klaus said, his tone serious.

Bonnie smiled ruefully. "Nobody ever actually _asks_ that. No one's ever come up to me and said ' _Hey, Bonnie would you be a pal and die to save so and so_?' No one wants to ask that question because it's a shitty thing to ask. They want you to _volunteer_. Because if you volunteer then it's not their fault if you end up dead. It's not their fault that you decided that whatever they want is more important than your own life. And if you end up saving the day and your own life, then that willingness to sacrifice becomes an unspoken expectation. The people haven't changed and the situations are no less dire; so if you were willing to do it before, why wouldn't you be willing to do it again?" She couldn't hide the bitterness that lightly peppered her words.

"And now? Would you make the same decisions now?"

"Probably not. Most of them were selfish decisions. Either I was being selfish, or I was indulging someone else in their selfishness. In the end, it wasn't worth it. It's a hard to pill to swallow when you think about how differently your life would have turned out if you'd just made better or at least more informed choices."

"I suspect Marcel has been swallowing that pill for some time now."

" _Probably_. But what I need him to do right now is hurry up and digest it. As long as his hatred of you and yours is at the forefront, he's a liability."

"Do you honestly think that's possible?"

"I do. His feelings for you cost him a great deal seven years ago. I don't think he's going to let his feelings for you cost him now as well."

 **BKBKBKBK**

They sat around a small conference table; Bonnie opposite Marcel and Vincent opposite Klaus. The vampire had remained quiet throughout Bonnie's explanation about Bob and his motives. Not that Klaus could blame him. Far too many times during her story, she and Vincent dissolved into some sort industry jargon firing questions and answers at each other so rapidly, he wondered if they'd even truly heard what the other was saying. Bonnie was always very open with him about magic and his own experiences with witches as a whole gave him a great deal more insight into the subject. But it was clear that Bonnie enjoyed conversing with the witch in a way that she simply could not with him.

He would be lying if he said it didn't bother him.

"So what do you want, witch?" Marcel said finally, gaining the attention of all.

Bonnie was quiet for a moment. "Witches…and vampires. As many as either of you can spare. I'll be meeting with an alpha from Northeast Atlantic as well. The items housed in this place could be catastrophic if they wind up in the wrong hands. It needs defending. I can't do that and do what I need to do to stop him."

"I'm still waiting to hear why _I_ should trust _you_ to do anything, let alone this." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and folding his hands under his chin. "Now according to you, the Terror Twins are actually possessed by some ancient entity bent of world domination and what would ultimately be the collapse of both the natural and supernatural world. _Fine_. You say it can't be killed. _Fine_. You say it's coming here for you. _Fine_. What you haven't said, is why I shouldn't make a deal of my own with it?"

Vincent and Klaus rolled their eyes in unison.

Bonnie nodded, reaching for her wine glass. "Not to get all Gandalf on you, but through me it would wield a power that could cause unimaginable devastation."

"Then why not just kill you? Kill the carrot that's been dangling in front of it?"

"You could try that. Try to take me out of the equation and allow it to turn its attention elsewhere. Maybe it decides Klaus is the next best thing. Or _you_. Or both of you actually. Upgrade from Salvatore and St. John to Mikaelson and Gerard?" She leaned forward and placed her own elbows on the table, mimicking him. "That could be interesting."

"This isn't the time for obstinacy, Marcel," Klaus chided.

"No." Marcel declared firmly. "I'm not talking to _you_ , I'm talking to _her_."

"Are you? Because you don't sound like you're speaking to someone who had you dripping from her fingertips a moment ago."

Vampire and hybrid both moved to stand, but Bonnie's voice stopped them.

"Killing me won't stop it; it'll only slow it down and not enough to make much difference," Bonnie announced, raising her voice enough to stop them from glaring at each other.

"What killing me _will_ do is take out your strongest ally when it comes _to_ stopping it." She tried to keep the irritation out of her voice but _come on_ …she'd almost made him go full Odo outside and he's talking about killing her like it was a viable option? The arrogance of vampires knows no bounds.

"And as for trying to trade me...You might want to rethink that."

"And why is that?" The vampire asked, reaching for his own wine glass. "From what Vincent tells me, you Bennetts have a thing for sacrificing yourselves for the greater good. This good not great enough for you?" the vampire sneered. He was still angry. Here he had all of the power of an Original Vampire and a bite that was deadly to all, _including_ the Mikaelsons. And yet the security that fact brought him melted away as quickly as he had in the witch's hands. It had been painful, terrifying and humiliating. That the witch had chosen not to laud it over him meant nothing.

Bonnie reached into her back pocket and removed a folded sheet of paper. "As a condition of the cease fire between you and the Nine Covens, none of the witches in New Orleans work for you, right?"

"Yeah... _so_?"

"So you've had to import witches in from out side of the city, _right_?"

"What's your point, Bennett?"

"These are the names of the witches in your employ who also happen to be working for Salvatore and St. John," she said lightly, waving the list in her hands."

Marcel's eyes narrowed as he straightened in his chair.

"These witches have been placed— _by you_ —throughout your organization and at a moment's notice, they can take it from you and give it to their masters. They're _solitaries_ , Marcel. Easily susceptible to what we should be fighting against. And you've all but handed your city over to them."

"How do you know this?" He hissed. If the witch was telling the truth…

"The spirits talk, Marcel and they talk to me. _This_ is one of the things having a powerful ally provides you: Information you wouldn't otherwise have." She laid the paper on the table and placed her hand over it. "Now I can give this to you and with the aid of the Nine Covens, you can root out an insurgency that's been brewing under your nose for the past 3 years."

"On the condition I hand over my army for your war?"

"No. I want you to give me your army because it's the right thing to do. This list is just a peace offering. A gesture to prove that I don't mean you ill will."

"And what about him?" Marcel demanded, not bothering to look over at the hybrid.

"What about him? He's non-negotiable." She felt the hybrid bristle while keeping silent. She knew he wouldn't like being discussed as though he wasn't in the room, but she needed Marcel to understand that there was no way she was going to surrender her claim to him. She'd stolen him fair and square.

"Do you want this list or do you want him? Are you going to keep glaring at the trees? Or are you ready to focus on the forest?" Her tone was firm and her eyes unwavering as she slid the sheet over to him.

"Marcel," Vincent said, speaking up. "I'm more than willing to help…but you need to get behind her on this. It won't wait and it's too important." He stared hard at the vampire.

Marcel looked down at the paper before him. Any concerns he'd had about Salvatore and St. John's movements had been confirmed and amplified by the witch. But Klaus was the sticking point and she had made her position clear: By accepting her "peace offering" he would be agreeing to forego any action against Klaus until the current crisis was handled at least.

Marcel offered a strained smile. "You think you've got me hemmed in on all sides don't you?"

"This isn't about hemming anyone in, Marcel. This is me laying out the facts so you can make an informed choice. Now from what Vincent tells _me_ , somewhere in there you love your city and want to protect it. _This_ is how you can actually do that."

The vampire considered her words. "You're really expecting me to deal with him…"

"You're not dealing with him. You're dealing with me," Bonnie assured. If she listened hard enough, she was sure she could hear Klaus' teeth grind together.

"When's this comet due?"

"The night of the 27th. But we fully expect them to lay siege before that."

Marcel studied the witch's face, unnerved by the absence of guile. She was earnest in her belief that this was the solution to a problem he could barely fathom. Vincent had offered up his witches immediately, he was so disturbed by what she'd said. And as soon as everyone back home found out about the solitaries, they'd be more than up for a fight. The only problem lie in the fact that many in his army were former sirelings of Klaus and to be forced to work with him even on something of this magnitude was asking a lot. He would need to make the stakes for doing otherwise very clear.

"Vincent and the Nine Covens help secure the city and you get my army-minus a force to keep the city secure."

"That's the idea."

"Well then, witch…you've got a deal." He pushed back his chair and stood. Bonnie stood as well, walking around the table to join him. Marcel watched as Klaus' eyes tracked the witch's movements. The way his eyes never strayed from her for very long cemented what he'd already known upon seeing how he raged while the witch dangled from his grasp.

"I have your word on that?" she asked, extended her hand.

"Yes," he said clasping her small hand in his. "And lucky for you, I have a tendency to keep it- unlike _others_."

Bonnie picked up the folded paper and handed it to him. "Then I guess you and Vincent have some phone calls to make."

 **BKBKBKBK**

"Burning the midnight oil?"

Bonnie looked up from her writing to see Marcel standing in the doorway of the study. After they'd come to an agreement, he and Vincent descended into a flurry of Facetimes and text messages, mobilizing only their most trusted and capable to apprehend the witches on her list. Those that hadn't been killed were now being held and interrogated. Bonnie offered the king and the regent rooms to rest for a few hours before heading back to New Orleans.

Not willing to test the weight of their fragile truce against Marcel's need to harm Klaus, Bonnie insisted that the hybrid stay in her room until her new allies were gone.

He hadn't been particularly perturbed by the idea.

"It's what I do," she shrugged. She'd awakened only an hour ago, her mind full of ideas for the fifth spell. After managing to disentangle herself from the sleeping hybrid, she'd come downstairs to work.

She watched as the vampire walked into the room, making his way to the bar.

"I thought you should know," he began. "One of those solitaries coughed up some intel that might be of use to you."

Bonnie sat back in her chair and waited.

"Apparently, this _Bob_ built a network of witches and up until recently, had them working on locating some kind of weapon. It's recently been acquired."

"Did they say what it was?" The idea of Bob having a weapon of some sort was concerning at best and alarming at worst.

"Not yet. He swears he doesn't know, but if he does, we'll get it out of him." He watched the witch's face as she processed the information. He'd been observing her for the better part of the night before they'd retired to their rooms. And what he'd observed told him that the witch was not only a powerful ally, she was also smart, self-deprecating and actually likeable. "Do you have any idea what it could be?"

Bonnie shook her head slowly. "Not at the moment. If it's specifically something to be used against me, it's not likely to fatal. He doesn't want me dead."

"Maybe it isn't something. Maybe it's _someone_. Another witch perhaps? Or maybe someone that could cause you to hesitate. You said the last two moves against you involved a psychic attack and the death of your mother. Attacks designed to hurt you without hurting you."

Bonnie pursed her lips in thought. "There aren't very many left who'd fit that bill. My friends—few as they are—are all accounted for and I have no more family.

Marcel frowned. "None at all?'

"No. I mean I've got human relatives on my father's side but we've never been close and considering the kind of life I still lead...It wouldn't be fair to risk them getting tangled up in my supernatural bullshit."

"But they're your family. That should mean something, shouldn't it?"

"It _should_ and it does. It means that I care enough about their well being to not be in their lives. Family means knowing when not to be selfish."

"Tell that to your buddy, Klaus."

Bonnie tilted her head, observing him anew. "You got something on your mind, Marcel?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"Well…in the interest of our new cooperation, I thought I'd give you some advice."

"Advice?" Bonnie's eyes widened at the word. "I'm all ears." She folded her hand across her midsection and waited for the first shots to be fired.

"I can see that Klaus cares for you. He doesn't care for very many so it's always noticeable. But don't let that fool you. You can only trust him so far."

"And yet that's still more than I trust you," Bonnie said, pointedly.

"Fair enough. But since we're allies now, it's in my best interest for you to remain reasonably impartial on the subject of the Mikaelson family. If you're not careful, you'll get sucked into Klaus' orbit and before you know it, you'll be doing his bidding. He'll set you loose on all of his enemies the second he gets a chance. How long before he aims you at me?"

"You think I'm that easily manipulated?"

Marcel considered her question. "After this is all over, you're going to help him reunite with his family, _aren't you_?" He took the witch's silence as confirmation.

"Is that something you would have volunteered to do 10 years ago? Five years ago? _Six months ago_? Getting involved with the Mikaelsons in any way opens you up to doing things you wouldn't normally do, believe me I know.

"Now Freya Mikaelson needed to hijack all the power from the Ancestral Well in order to strip Lucien of his Original status. Something tells me you wouldn't need to do anything like that to strip me of mine. If you do decide to raise the Mikaelsons, can I trust you to stay out of any conflicts that will definitely arise as a result?"

Bonnie stood and walked over to the bar, pouring herself a drink before joining the vampire on the couch.

"I have no intention of stripping you of power or killing you, Marcel. Not for the Mikaelsons or anyone else," she said lightly.

"May I ask why?"

"Your winning personality of course," she chuckled.

"Raising the Mikaelsons will be the last personal favor I intend to do, magically speaking," she continued, sobering. "Too much of my life has been about being the magical fixer for those around me. And when this Bob thing is over, everyone has lives they'll go back to. I don't have that. I don't have a life and I _want_ one. _Fuck, I deserve one_. Yeah it may be mortal and short, but it will be _mine_.

"If the last four years have taught me nothing else, it's that I haven't given myself the chance to really understand who and what I am. I've been too busy smoothing the way for everybody else's journey of self-discovery. I can't do it anymore. I don't have _time_. If the spirits need me to intervene on their behalf, I will. But I _refuse_ to be the witch in anyone's back pocket anymore."

Marcel looked at the witch and could only think of Davina in that moment. So much of her tragically short life had been about the manipulation and bullying of others. By her own kind...by the Mikaelsons...by _him_. Freya and Elijah had robbed her of her future, but they'd all had a hand in the dismantling the life she'd lived.

"So if I go to war with the Mikaelsons, you won't interfere?"

"Not unless the spirits have something to say about it. But the bigger question is, why would you? Why are you planning to pick up where you left off with them?"

"Are you forgetting they betrayed me? That they were so afraid of anyone having power of them they killed me?"

"By 'they', don't you mean Elijah? _Elijah_ betrayed you. _Elijah_ killed you. Do you honestly believe that Klaus would have done that?" Bonnie frowned in bewilderment.

Marcel snorted, "Don't you?"

" _No_. _I don't_ and believe me, I'm as surprised as anyone that I can say that. Look, I wasn't there, _you were_. So I have to ask: was there anything about Klaus that night or even at the trial that tells you that he not only wanted you dead but intended to kill you? He _raised_ you. And while he may be a shit parent—something I know plenty about—I can't see him hurting you or himself that way."

"That doesn't excuse what happened-"

"No it doesn't and it's not supposed to. Hell I cheered when Vincent told me what you did because the fact is...they had it coming. But it also doesn't change the fact that we've all got it coming in one way or another."

"Even you?"

"Even me. I've done things that I can never take back and people have suffered and/or died because of them. If anyone wanted to come at me for any of those things, they'd have just cause. We're all monsters in our own way and sometimes we do monstrous things, to ourselves and each other. Now you don't have to forgive their crimes against you. But if you don't get past it someway, you're going to do yourself and everybody else more harm than good."

She downed the rest of her drink and stood, making her way back to her desk. "That's some advice…in the interest of our new cooperation."

Marcel finished off his own and stood. He didn't know why Klaus had never mentioned this witch in the past, but he knew exactly why the hybrid was interested in her now. "You are an adorably earnest witch…I think I like you, Bennett."

Bonnie smiled and shrugged, "I'm likeable…comes with the territory."

 **BKBKBKBK**

"Attempting to pour poison are we?" Klaus' voice stopped him when he reached the second floor.

" _Poison_ …or the _truth_? I know you have a hard time telling the difference." Marcel spotted his sire leaning against the door to Bonnie's room. "Eavesdropping, huh?"

"You forget I know you. I don't need to eavesdrop to know what you're about." Marcel would take any opportunity to plant seeds of doubt in Bonnie's mind. It's what he would do if their roles were reversed.

"See that's where you're wrong." Marcel said, turning to face him. " _You don't know me_. Maybe you did before but you _don't_ now. So let me make this abundantly clear: you may have the witch fooled but you forget _I know you_. You'll use her the way you've used anyone who's given a damn about you. And the moment she outlives her usefulness or becomes a liability, her heart's getting ripped out. And _unlike_ _me_ , she won't see it coming." He turned away from the hybrid and toward the door to his guest room.

"So when you do turn on her, do me a favor: remember that it was me who tried to stop her from getting to that point." With that, he left Klaus alone with his thoughts.

Klaus stared at the spot where Marcel had been. He'd heard most of Bonnie's conversation with the vampire and debated interrupting. But the opportunity to hear her thoughts from a different perspective was too tempting. She'd ended up answering questions he'd kept from asking, unsure of what he wanted her answers to be.

They'd been in each other space for weeks now and learned a great deal about one another; and yet, it was a strange thing to hear those findings expressed to someone else.

He'd been gratified to know that she was retiring as a magical fixer. That she was committed to the creation and development of a life of her own. She hadn't indicated what form she wanted that life to take, but the fact that she'd even begun to discuss life after Bob had been encouraging when not long ago she'd been unwilling to look that far ahead.

He'd bristled at the mortality and shortness of that life.

She'd told Marcel of her intention to help in the restoration of his family. He'd expected the vampire's response yet found he didn't have one of his own. Her question applied to them both.

Why did they want to pick up where they'd left off?

When he'd first returned to New Orleans, the decision to wrest control of the city from Marcel had been simple. He'd built that city. Created a home for his family where they could live in power and safety. And had it not been for Rebekah and Marcel, he never would have abandoned it. The fact that Marcel not only lived but ruled after they'd fled meant nothing. Reclaiming what he'd been forced to relinquish was a foregone conclusion. He would keep Marcel by his side, but he would be the one to rule.

But seeing what both the city and his family had become in the few short years since their return, reminded him of one of the reasons why he'd led a clandestine life for so many centuries. There was a freedom to it. The ability to maneuver and operate from afar, removed from the minutiae of the supernatural world. He'd been both untouchable and all-powerful. The distinction between the private and the public had been firm with only a small trusted few allowed into his inner circle.

It suited him. It suits him still.

And it is because it suits him that the prospect of returning to New Orleans to wrest a kingdom from his son sits tasteless in his mouth. He'd given up the world in order to reclaim something long gone. New Orleans would forever be his home, but Ella Winter's words to Thomas Wolfe had proven true: you can't go home again.

He heard Bonnie's footsteps and slipped back into her room.

When she opened her bedroom door, she found Klaus still sleeping. She kicked off her slippers and shrugged off her robe before padding over to the bed and climbing in. The moment her head brushed against his bare chest, she felt his arms wrap around her. She snuggled in closer and sighed tiredly.

"How much did you hear?" she asked sleepily after several moments.

Klaus dropped a kiss on her forehead. "Everything, love."

 **BKBKBKBK**

Bonnie stood in the courtyard, waiting. The sun made her skin gleam as she flashed a wide smile at his approach.

"You do realize this won't be any easier than Marcel, don't you?" Marcel and Vincent returned to New Orleans two days ago. Klaus had been impressed with how thoroughly Marcel had kept faith with Bonnie. Any information he and Vincent gleaned from their prisoners had immediately been relayed to the witch. As a result, they had learned several details about Bob's operation, most importantly, his numbers. However they had yet to identify his newly acquired weapon.

"Oh I know. But if the end result is the same, I'm ok with that." Vincent and Marcel would be returning with their people in 10 days and Caroline and Stefan would be here any day now. Time felt like it was ticking by at an accelerated pace, and yet everything was finally falling into place.

"Now why are we out here instead of near the barrier?"

Bonnie reached into her pocket and pulled out a black stone, dropping it into his hand.

"Obsidian?" Klaus asked, holding the small stone between his thumb and forefinger.

"Yep," Bonnie nodded. "It's spelled to allow passage through the barrier. Caroline and Stefan have one along with Tyler. I gave one to Vincent before he left. This one is yours."

Klaus eyed the witch playfully. "Did you really just give me a key to your place?" He chuckled when she smacked his arm playfully.

She was about to demand the stone back when she heard the sound of a vehicle approaching. A black pick-up truck came into view and stopped before them.

The passenger door swung open and a rather tall woman stepped down. Her skin was as ruddy as the redness of her pixie cut hair. Her long legs were clad in tight dark washed jeans and she wore a dark green t-shirt that fit her snugly. Her whiskey colored eyes were hard as she stared at them.

Bonnie looked to the driver's side and watched as Tyler Lockwood stepped down. He looked good… _pissed_ …but good.

"Hey, Bon" he said, glaring at the hybrid by her side.

"Hey, Tyler." She opened her arms and was wrapped in a tight hug. He stepped away from her when his companion joined them.

"And who's this?" Bonnie asked.

"This is Chloe," Tyler said, motioning to the still silent woman. "My alpha."

Bonnie's eyes widened. " _When did you join a pack_?" Tyler had been a lone wolf for years and never gave any hint of wanting to be anything else.

"Not long after I talked to you." A light accusation lingered in his voice.

"Only a member of my pack would have the balls to make a request like this. Anyone else would be dead," the woman said simply.

"It was the only way to get her up here, Bon." Tyler shrugged.

Bonnie blinked, hard. "Oh…well…wow…"

"Wow indeed," Klaus said speaking up. "Hello, Tyler."

The werewolf's eyes had begun to turn yellow when Chloe laid a hand gently on his shoulder. He stilled almost instantly, the dark brown of his eyes returning.

The alpha turned to Bonnie, "You wanted to speak with me, Ms. Bennett?" Her eyes were piercing as she searched for any hint of danger.

"Yes," shaking off the myriad of questions she wanted to ask Tyler. "We should go inside. Something tells me we're going to need booze and apps."

A/N: So sorry about the delay on this one. I've been getting my ass kicked by the mother of all summer colds. I sound like Harvey Fierstein, I feel like shit and I look even worse.

This one was long but necessary in light of the next two chapters. I have to say that there are certain chapters in this fic that I've looked forward to writing since the beginning and the upcoming two (which will also close out the 2nd act) are definitely on that list.

I'm glad everyone liked the last update! I was worried that what Bonnie did to Marcel might be a little too gross but bad ass Bonnie is what I live for LOL

Like I said, the next two updates will close out the 2nd act. All tolled this fic is on track to be about 25 chapter long with the 3rd act containing the final 10. Thank you all so much for your response to this fic. I really appreciate the encouragement and the reviews. And shout out to everyone on Tumblr that's posted about it!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go drown myself in Nyquil.


	14. Uh Oh

**Uh Oh**

Chloe Lawson was known to be many things; being Alpha required it. But what she personally prided herself on being, was observant. It had come in handy in the years since becoming Alpha. So while she listened to the witch make her pitch, she observed what went unsaid in the room.

Tyler was agitated, which was nothing new for her newest pack member. She'd known the wolf for several years. She knew about his past with the Original Hybrid and she knew how close he was with the witch. That he was trying and failing to swallow his ire in favor of her told Chloe that he believed the situation dire enough to warrant it. And yet she felt the turmoil that raged within him. How could it not? The hybrid was responsible for abusing him, destroying his pack and killing his mother. What kind of wolf was capable of that?

She discreetly turned her attention to the hybrid. He was over 1,000 years old and the son of the Great Alpha, if the rumors were true. She wasn't convinced. No true son of Ansel's could do to his own kind what this thing had done. To even suggest it felt like blasphemy if she even believed in such a thing. This monster broke his curse and spent an entire summer killing wolves in failed attempts to create hybrids before finding success with Tyler. The spirits of nature would not be so cruel as to have the legacy of their greatest Alpha flow through the veins of Niklaus Mikaelson.

She focused her senses on him. At first sniff, he stank of vampire. But after closer inspection, she could _smell_ the wolf in him. He was _definitely_ an Alpha; the notes of authority heavy beneath the stench of death. But there was something else. Another note that _almost_ smelled familiar except for...

She turned her attention to the witch. She smelled of magic. She was full to bursting with it really. Full of life and earth and fire. And yet...

Her mind began working as the Alpha sat back in her chair, taking in the hybrid and witch sitting next to each other.

"I'd like to see this vault before I make a decision," Chloe announced. The witch had indicated that the vault contained a record of what became of a portion of the members of Ansel's pack.

"Oh...um...of course. Absolutely we can all go down there and you can see for yourself." It was hard for Bonnie to get a bead on this Alpha. She looked to be in her early 40s and she carried herself as though she were used to having her demands obeyed. But she softened slightly every time Tyler's arm brushed against hers.

"Actually," Chloe answered, eyeing the witch carefully "I'd rather _he_ showed it to me. _Alone_."

Bonnie bristled at the thought. The warmth beneath her sternum she'd begun to associate with Klaus flared until it was nearly painful. _Who does this broad think she is? This is my house and my vault. Who is she to decide who does what—"_

She felt Klaus' hand land on her knee, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"I would be delighted," the hybrid said smoothly.

Chloe picked up the subtle change in the witch's scent, confirming her thoughts.

 **BKBKBKBK**

"I don't care what she said, we should have gone with them!" Tyler hissed pacing back and forth. Chloe and Klaus had only been gone for 10 minutes, yet it felt like hours.

"They'll be fine. There's nothing down there anymore except the record and huge pool of ley energy that she can't do shit with," Bonnie said dryly. She was still irritated by the Alpha's request and she was irritated by her irritation. So what if he was down in some dark cave with some red-headed she-wolf with an attitude? She rubbed her hand absent-mindedly over the area of her chest where she'd felt the discomfort.

"There nothing down there except my Alpha and fucking Klaus! I swear to god Bonnie if he hurts her...

"He's not going to do anything to her, alright?" Bonnie snapped.

"Says _you_."

"Yeah, says _me_. I trust him, Tyler."

"What the fuck for?! What has that sonofabitch and his family done for you or any of us other than cause pain and suffering?"

"That's really not a question you want to ask me, Tyler," she warned. She more than understood Tyler's concerns, but her patience for this particular topic was beginning to wear thin. I mean she'd just been through this with Marcel. And by now, she was starting to feel like she was being beaten over the head with a bat inscribed with the words 'how could you?!'

"Why? Because he's your _friend_ now? _So what happened, Bon_? Klaus broke you off a piece and now you're a groupie?"

Bonnie head snapped up from her drink, "What did you say to me?" Her voice was dangerously low.

Silence.

" _I didn't quite catch that, Tyler_. You want to say it again?"

Tyler wasn't so foolish as to not realize he'd treaded into dangerous territory. He didn't want to fight with her. He just couldn't understand why she would partner up with _Klaus_ of all people.

The werewolf sighed, "Just tell me how you can call him a friend after everything he's done?"

Bonnie inhaled sharply and pursed her lips. She took several deep breaths before she spoke. " _Damon_ bit me, abused Caroline, and turned my mother. And when he wasn't doing that he was terrorizing, bullying and belittling me. _Stefan_ only seemed to remember I existed when he needed something and when he wasn't doing that, he was flipping a coin to decide whether I live or die. _Elena_ decided that playing Musical Chairs: Vampire Edition was more important than sticking up for or standing by her friends." She stood, circling the table before coming to a stop in front of him.

"And you...you tried to fuck Matt's mom. You handed Caroline over to a pack of wolves who threw her in a cage and tortured her. You then sent those same wolves after Elena-"

"That's not-"

" _We've known each other our whole lives_ ," she continued on, drowning him out. "And yet you thought that wheeling and dealing with a psychopath to save a girl you _barely_ knew was worth leaving me stranded _in a fucking prison world_. _Alone_. _For months_.

Bonnie stood, watching the stricken look overcome Tyler's face. "You see the question isn't 'how can I be friends with Klaus?' The question is _how can I be friends with any of you?_ "

 **BKBKBKBK**

"I can't believe this has been here all this time," Chloe said, her fingers brushing over the inscriptions in the rock face. The hardness in her voice had melted away to wonder the moment she laid eyes on the record.

Her eyes and fingers scanned the writings before landing on an inscription. "Gepa and Kitan...they're my ancestors." According to the stories, she'd heard since childhood, Ansel's pack consisted of several smaller packs— _families_ —who willingly submitted to his leadership. Before him, wolves were rudderless and scattered about. He taught them a better way. How to embrace the wolf. How to build communities that benefitted from the bonds of being part of a pack. That the Northeast Atlantic had fallen into such disarray several centuries later, cemented the reality of all that had been lost.

The bulk of the survivors from Ansel's pack fled south, their descendants abandoning the old ways. But the smaller number that fled to this region, remembered Ansel's teachings and followed them. Passing them down through the generations. Her pack along with four others were the result.

"Funny how that works," Klaus murmured, interrupting her thoughts. "Small world and all…shall we go?" He wanted to get back. Bonnie was upset. _He knew it_. If that miserable little whelp…

"You seem agitated." Chloe said, drawing his attention.

"Is that why you wanted me to bring you down here? To state the obvious?"

"No. I wanted to speak with you. Alpha to Alpha."

Klaus folded his arms. "Go on."

"Tyler has embraced the old ways."

"You mean the ways of my father," the hybrid said pointedly, watching her jaw tighten. "You don't like hearing me say that?"

"Frankly, _no_. I'm still holding out hope that it isn't true. Because if it's true, then not only are you a poor excuse for a wolf, you're also a disgrace to Ansel's blood," she said bluntly.

"Is that a fact? And what do you know about it?"

"I know _enough_. You created a pack only to abuse and slaughter them."

"They conspired to kill me. Or did Tyler leave out that little detail?"

"If a pack turns on its Alpha, then the fault lies with the Alpha. A pack's obligation to its Alpha does not overshadow the responsibility an Alpha has for their pack. No wolf...no Alpha would do what you've done to your own kind."

"Thank you for the philosophy lesson." Klaus said, dryly. "What do you want?"

"I'd like to hear it from you. Why did you turn him? Why did you turn any of those wolves?"

"They were a means to an end. I needed soldiers. Tyler was chosen to give Bonnie the incentive to find a way to complete the transition without killing him." His mind flashed to the look of terror on Bonnie's face when he snapped Tyler's neck. If she had been resourceful enough to fake her death and nearly kill him a few days later, he knew she'd find a solution to Tyler's plight. And he'd been right. But now, remembering how those beautiful green eyes grew as wide as a panicked horse's as she ran to do his bidding, caused an ugly twisting in his gut knowing that he had been the reason.

Chloe shook her head in disgust. "Tyler is a member of my pack now. And _unlike_ you, that actually means something to me. If I decide to join forces with the witch, you need to understand that I will not stand for any attempts to use him as your whipping boy. You mess with him, you're messing me and everyone who comes with me."

Klaus scoffed, "I don't give a damn about Lockwood and your empty threat means even less. But if I wanted to rip the boy's head off and use it as a goblet, there's nothing you or _anyone who comes with you_ can do about it."

"I don't make empty threats, _hybrid_. And like I said, we follow the old ways. _All_ of the old ways. You have no idea what wolves are capable of when put to purpose."

"I know all I need to know. Now if you're quite done wasting my time-"

Chloe snorted moving past him to leap up to the passageway they'd descended from, "If that were true you'd have figured out what's going on between you and the witch by now," she said before dashing off.

 **BKBKBKBK**

"I'm sorry," Tyler said, quietly. When Bonnie returned from the prison world on her own, he'd avoided her like the plague. Didn't even really talk to her until the day Elena went to sleep. He knew what he'd done and while he still didn't know the full details of her time over there, he knew that it had cost her.

"It's the past, Tyler. I stopped looking for an apology a long time ago. Not because I don't deserve one but because it's _us_. _All of us_. Thirteen years ago, you were the mayor's football playing son and I was the perky cheerleader. A minute later, you were a werewolf and I was a witch. We were a bunch of kids who all got dumped into a world we didn't understand and certainly weren't prepared for. We helped and hurt each other and everybody else.

"But the kind of shit we've been through together creates a bond not unlike the Mikaelsons. And so we fall apart and we come together. We love and we hate each other. We say we're friends, but at this point—you're all basically my family. _Dysfunctional_ as fuck, but family nonetheless."

"And is _Klaus_ a part of that family?"

"I don't know what Klaus is," she said, honestly. "I just know that he's been a friend to me. And I can't ignore that. And I don't want to. Besides, for all we know, he may go back to being that demon we all know when this is all said and done." The very real possibility of that sat like a stone in her belly.

Tyler thought about the way Klaus looked at Bonnie throughout the day, "And what if he doesn't?"

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it." It was the only answer she had time for. "It's like I said, Tyler. I'm not asking you to forgive him, or accept him or forget about what he's done to you. I'm just asking you to _trust me_ on this. Can you do that? Trust that I know what I'm doing? If he hadn't been here, I never would have been in a position to figure out how to deal with Bob. He's willing to help and I need all the help I can get." Her eyes were pleading with him to understand.

Tyler sighed, beginning to settle within himself. "If Chloe decides to get the pack involved, I'll be there. You say you trust him? _Fine_. I don't and I never will. So that means I'm going to be watching your back whether you like it or not. And if there's even a hint he's up to some bullshit..."

Bonnie threw her arms around the werewolf's waist and squeezed him, feeling his arms come around to hug her. They hugged each other for a few moments when Bonnie felt a subtle shift in his energy. He was the Tyler she knew, but he suddenly felt like he was _more_. More present...more _aware_...more _Tyler_. She couldn't wrap her brain around it as she looked up into his face quizzically.

"It's my wolf," Tyler said, answering the unspoken question. The pack's been teaching me the old ways and how to embrace it."

Bonnie stepped back, fascinated. "Embrace your wolf?"

"Well yeah. I've always hated being a werewolf from the moment I found out I was one. Add the pain of transformation and the Klaus chapters and being a werewolf was just one big ball of suck. It wasn't until I met Chloe and her pack and saw the way they live...they don't see being a werewolf as a curse. They believe that once we're triggered all the aspects of the wolf have to be embraced and integrated."

"So you're becoming one with your wolf?"

"Basically," Tyler answered, sighing. "Wolves are really emotional creatures. It's part of the reason we unconsciously put ourselves in situations to trigger it. We need our humanity to balance all of that out. There's more to being a wolf than just shifting on the full moon and having a useful healing ability and I'm just starting to understand that."

Bonnie nodded, "Yeah you feel a lot different now than when you got here."

"When I calm down and focus on what I'm feeling and why, it centers me in a way I'm still not used to." He followed her when she returned to sit at the conference table.

"I can't believe you joined a pack, Tyler."

The werewolf chuckled lowly. "Chloe's asked me to more than once. But between Mason's pack and the hybrids...the whole idea made me nervous. A pack of fully realized wolves is something you've never seen, Bonnie. It's pretty damn awesome. And then Chloe..." Bonnie watched as his eyes softened.

" _Tyler_...are you and Chloe...?" She gasped.

She watched as he tried not to look sheepish. " _Yeah_. On and off for the past 3 years. When I wasn't on the road I'd be with her and the pack. I went back a couple months ago and I just couldn't leave. I love her, Bonnie."

Bonnie's eyes widened as a happy grin split her face, "Oh my God, Tyler!" She smacked his arm affectionately.

"You wouldn't believe what I had to go through just to get her to give me a chance. She's almost 15 years older than me and she tried to treat me like a puppy at first."

"You _are_ a puppy, Tyler."

"Not where it counts," he answered smugly, sending the witch into a fit of giggles. She was happy for him and for the fact that the tension between them had dissipated somewhat. It was at that point that Chloe and Klaus re-entered the room.

Chloe's face was unreadable as Tyler stood to go to her. When he reached her, Chloe softened, giving him a small nod and squeezing his hand reassuringly.

Klaus on the other hand, was frowning. He looked as if he was trying to puzzle something out in his mind. And when he looked at her, he seemed even more confused. Bonnie eyebrows raised in a silent question.

He nodded unconvincingly in response. Bonnie wanted to ask him what was wrong but Chloe drew her attention.

"Bonnie..."

"Have you made your decision yet?"

Chloe nodded, taking a seat. "As I've told Tyler numerous times before, it's too bad that your only real dealings with my kind have been the hybrid. He doesn't represent an accurate picture of us anymore than those wolves that abandoned the old ways do. So I feel it necessary to explain why I needed to see for myself." She leaned forward, elbows on the table.

"My ancestors were a part of the record in your vault. The story of the Great Healer has been passed down orally through my family for generations. It-"

"The Great Healer...you mean Ayanna?" Bonnie asked.

Chloe nodded, "She fell into myth centuries ago; relegated to bedtime stories. Some magical figure that protected us when all hope was lost. When I was little, if I got scared, I would pray that the Great Healer would come and chase the monsters from under my bed. But in the end, you get older and figure none of it was real.

"So you see...going down there, seeing that record...Not only did the Great Healer exist, she _did_ protect us from the darkness. A darkness that you say has returned."

"I talk a lot about the old ways. And I do it because they are in part a code of ethics. A law that both helps and teaches us to govern ourselves.

"Your ancestor saved many families. Families that would not be here today if she hadn't intervened. That's a blood debt that can't be repaid… _But we're certainly going to try._

Chloe extended her hand to the witch. "If the Great Healer's last descendant needs us to stand with her, then that's _exactly_ what we will do."

 **BKBKBKBK**

Klaus finished lighting a fire in the fireplace as Bonnie bounded into the study later that evening. Their werewolf guests left before dark with Chloe telling them that she would speak to the Alphas of four other packs on her behalf. Tyler spent their goodbye insisting that she "be careful" and demanding that she promise not to tell Caroline about Chloe yet.

He watched her flit over to the entertainment center and after a few moments, Jimmy Hendrix streamed through the speakers. She turned the volume down to a conversational level before dancing over to the couch and plopping down with a happy huff. The sound brought a smile to the hybrid's lips.

"You're in a good mood," he said as he went to the bar to make drinks.

"Aren't you?" she asked. " _We did it Klaus_. We set out to do something and we got everything we wanted, _plus some_. That _has_ to feel good."

"Of course it does. But it is a feeling I'm already quite familiar with," he said smugly.

"Well shit…if you're _that_ familiar with it then no wonder you're so arrogant."

Klaus chuckled, handing her a drink. "I did come by it honestly, love."

Bonnie smirked, "Well I'm not used to it."

"Then you'd better hurry up with that. This was no small thing you've done, Bonnie. You should be proud of yourself." He sat beside her, throwing his arm across the back of the couch. He smiled when she shifted closer to him.

" _I am_. I've never been _this_ before. I've been the cheerleader, the offensive line, the _defensive_ line and I always end up in the penalty box even though someone else got red carded."

"We're mixing sports metaphors now?" The hybrid asked, feigning unease.

Bonnie swatted his chest lightly, "What I _mean..._ is that I've never been the _quarterback_."

Klaus nodded. "The position suits you. I can't imagine why you haven't been in it before."

"People don't tend to ask their tools to come up with the plan. By the time anyone called me in, plans had already been decided or they'd already backfired."

"I assume no one's heard of Einstein's definition of insanity?"

"I'm sure they have. But who's insane, _them_ or _me_?"

"Them, love. _Always_ them."

Bonnie grinned. "I still can't believe it. We've got a plan, a force to execute it and if everybody does their job, we really could kick Bob's ass and drop him into oblivion and put end to a four year nightmare." The back of her head thudded against the hybrid's arm.

She settled deeper into the cushions as she felt Klaus thumb begin to stroke the back of her neck absently. She was quiet for a few moments, enjoying the sensation.

"I wanted to thank you," she said quietly. "For being here. I know the past few days haven't been exactly easy."

" _Easy_? No. _Necessary_? Yes."

"Still…Marcel…Tyler…even Chloe had you looking like you'd swallowed a lemon whole. What was all that?"

Klaus chuckled bitterly. "She attempted to warn me to stay away from Tyler. She also think I'm a poor excuse for a wolf and a disgrace to Ansel's blood….And by her reasoning, she isn't wrong."

Bonnie frowned, "She isn't?"

"She points to my treatment of both Tyler and my hybrids as evidence that I know nothing about being a wolf."

"Well…of course you don't."

Klaus eyed her curiously. "Explain."

Bonnie sighed as if she thought her meaning was obvious. She shifted toward him, tucking a foot underneath her. "Working on these spells, I've gotten to learn a lot about magical theory" She took a sip of her drink thoughtfully before she continued.

"When Esther cursed you, she used a binding spell. When you bind something, you isolate it. It's like suspended animation. It doesn't age…change…learn…nothing. Her curse bound a newly triggered and very young wolf. And your breaking it unbound a newly triggered and very young wolf. And then you all but ignored it. And with the exception of shifting on the full moon, you're still ignoring it."

She watched as Klaus's features attempted settle into one particular expression only to fail miserably and dissolve into a flurry of emotions chasing each other across his face. She almost laughed.

"I mean come on," she continued. "You basically lived as a vampire for the past thousand years. Your wolf's been loose for twelve. How much time have you spent learning what it means to be a wolf?"

The familiar warmth he felt in his chest when she was near, flared brightly. He was struck with the whimsical notion that his wolf was sitting somewhere nodding vigorously in agreement.

"What, may I ask, brought you to these conclusions?"

Bonnie shrugged. "Tyler talked to me today about what he's been learning with his new pack. But mostly, it takes one to know one, I guess. I found out I was a witch when I was sixteen years old. And the person who was supposed to guide me through that, died a few months later. For years I didn't know the first thing about what it meant to be a witch. _Hell_ , the little bit I do know, I learned living here. _Reading_ about the lives of witches. Their choices and mistakes and why they made them."

She squinted at him comically, "Do you _really_ think I would have done any of the things I did if I truly knew what it meant to be a witch? It doesn't excuse anything. But it certainly might shed a different light on the past few years."

"Such as?"

"As soon as you broke your curse you started trying to make a hybrid— _which is an idea that only a vampire would come up with by the way_ —then you treated your pack like a vampire would and then killed them… _like a vampire would_. Your wolf on the other hand, found another wolf and made Hope. See the difference? Tyler was just as much of an asshole as you were before you turned him. And his wolf was just as young as yours, technically speaking."

"You opened the door to an entirely different aspect of yourself. And instead of inviting it in, you left the door open and let it stand there on the welcome mat. A 1,000 year old vampire and a relatively young wolf all in the same body.

Bonnie reached out and cupped the hybrid's stubbled cheek. "You were born to be a werewolf, Klaus. Just like I was born to be a witch. And I think we've both wasted way too much time doing a disservice to ourselves on that account. I don't agree with what she said about you being a disgrace. But I do think that choosing not to learn about every part of yourself is something you can't afford.

"I mean, you're going to have to anyway; your daughter probably knows more about it than you do right now." She lowered her hand, intending to resettle in the cushions when he reached out and grasped it midair.

"Why are you telling me this?"

She looked at him honestly. "I don't know. I guess for the past few weeks I've been told by many, what they think of you. Vincent…Marcel…Tyler… _You_. I guess I just needed to put what _I_ think out there because I _like_ the person I've gotten to know. And I guess I just don't want you to become that person I didn't know when this is all over." The words were out before she could do anything about them. But she wouldn't take them back. They'd been sitting on the tip of her tongue for a while now.

Klaus stared at Bonnie. She'd successfully rendered him speechless. She wasn't the first person to attempt to analyze some portion of his psyche and he doubted she would be the last. But she was the first to offer an insight he'd genuinely not considered. He'd scorned his hybrids for shunning the pain of transformation, and yet in his own way, he'd done the exact same thing. Done it so completely, he killed his own father and all he represented in fear of it.

And yet she had _seen_. This wonderfully honest, impossibly present creature had seen him. Seen the person Ansel said he'd watched from the Other Side. And she wanted to see more.

Seeing the ruin he'd made of his life after breaking the curse, he was hard pressed to find a reason not to oblige her.

He saw her startlingly green eyes widen slightly and he knew his own had shifted to yellow. The warmth he'd felt continued to burn, fanning out into every corner of his being and caused him to ache. An ache he could now identify as being the same he'd felt the night of the full moon. The ache that propelled him to run through the woods on four legs just to be near her for a moment. The ache that left him no choice but to howl what he'd been unable to say.

It was then that the puzzle of Chloe's words was solved. The ache, the burning in his chest, the unconscious knowledge of where and how she was...it was his wolf.

Bonnie pulled her hand from his grasp and laid it once again on his face, watching his eyes drift close at the contact. His head fell forward, his forehead pressed gently against hers. A tremor broke out within her. Butterflies took flight in her belly when she felt the coarseness of his hand cup the back of her head, his thumb tracing the shell of her ear while his fingers buried themselves in her hair.

" _Don't stop me_ ," she heard him whisper. Whether it was a request, a command or a warning, she didn't know. She only knew that his breath was warm against her skin, sending sparks across it to travel down and kindle within her core.

" _I wasn't_ ," came her breathy reply before she felt his lips pressing down on hers as her body sighed into his. Her hands came to rest on his shoulders, fingers curling inward as she felt his arm wrap around her waist, pulling her closer still.

When he felt her lips part beneath his, he slid his tongue in; a growl rumbled deep within him at the taste of her. She was intoxicating. The soft moans he drew from her as he explored her mouth ignited his blood. He tightened the hold on her hair, kissing away her whimper of pain. When he felt her arms slide across his shoulders and around to his back, he released her lips in favor of tasting her skin as she took a much needed breath. His mouth laid waste to her neck when her head rolled back.

He cataloged her every response as he explored her. His hand drifted down to firmly grip her hip, eliciting a gasp from her that spurred him to grab hold and pull her on top of him.

Bonnie looked down at the hybrid from her new position, straddling him. The yellow of his eyes seemed to glow with an intensity she'd never seen. She felt his hardness pressed against her. It thrilled her, the idea of having such a being within her grasp, gazing at her as though she were the only one to sate him.

"Klaus," she whispered. "What are we doing?" Her hands rested on his chest, feeling the muscles beneath the fabric of his shirt.

Klaus looked at the witch astride him. Her skin was flushed, her hair mussed and her beautiful lips were parted and swollen from his kisses. Her eyes had darkened to emerald, hooded and unfocused. Tell-tale bruising was already beginning to form in places along her neck.

The huskiness of her voice in concert with the hummingbird beat of her heart and waterfall rush of her blood…she was a feast for his eyes, music to his ears and the need he felt in his flesh. The scent of her arousal began to seep into the air, assaulting his senses so completely that a soft growl escaped him at the impact. The light from the fireplace illuminated her silhouette, proving her to be the goddess he'd already known she was.

Old ways or no; thousand year old vampire or young wolf…all were in agreement:

 _Mine_.

He reached up, his hand wrapping around the back of her graceful neck. "Something very long overdue," he answered, bringing her lips down to him again. She moaned into his mouth, causing his hold on her neck to tighten slightly before his hands began to roam. Kneading the flesh of her back and hips before settling on the tantalizing globes of her ass. He gripped her almost painfully as he ground her over his hardness, relishing the way she felt in his hands.

Bonnie's mind was getting foggier by the second. Kings…witches…alphas…ancient evil…it was all fading away, replaced by the hybrid beneath and between her and the riot he'd set off in her body. Her tongue danced with his as she savored the fullness of his lips and the hint of bourbon in his mouth. Her fingers found the soft curls of his hair, nails lightly scratching his scalp.

His hands were suddenly at her back and she felt the gentle ripping of her shirt. The warmth of his hands on her skin both soothed and inflamed her. The strength in them making her mouth water. She needed to taste his skin. To feel the salt of it on her tongue. She was about to tear her lips from him and indulge the impulse when she suddenly felt him tense beneath her. A moment later…

"Hey, Bon! Look who met us at the…oh…my…god…"

Bonnie's head snapped up to see a trio standing near the doorway. And as she looked into the stunned face of Stefan, the disgruntled glare of Celeste and the horrified confusion of Caroline, only one thing came to mind:

"Uh oh…" she whispered.

_  
A/N: *Hiding under a desk* Don't throw anything at me! LOL

Thanks for the get well wishes. I'm definitely feeling better this week. Like I said, the next chapter will close out the 2nd act. So a lot of what's coming up now won't be fully addressed until the 3rd act. Thanks so much for the reads and reviews and recommendations!


	15. After

**After**

When Bonnie decided that she would wait until they arrived to tell Caroline and Stefan that Klaus was here, this was _not_ what she had in mind. She knew that she wouldn't get the kind of opposition to his presence that Tyler and Marcel put up because when push came to shove, Stefan ran to Klaus for protection seven years ago and Caroline tried to do the same thing three years later. There was a level of trust between them that should make things easier to understand.

However _now_ , "easier to understand" had just been shot to hell as she sat astride the hybrid. The two vampires gaping at her. _Oh shit…_

A low growl from Celeste snapped her out of her own shocked state. "Uh… _hi_ …guys…" she stammered.

Bonnie tried to lift herself from Klaus' lap, but the hybrid's hands on her hips kept her firmly in place. Every shift of her hips to free herself was met with calm resistance. A glance down at the hybrid revealed that his eyes still gleamed yellow and that he didn't appear the least bit interested in allowing her to unseat herself.

"Hello Caroline…Stefan…" he called, his eyes never leaving hers. He could see that she was still slightly aroused and he was more than willing to ask their guests to excuse themselves so that he could pick up where he'd left off. But the desire that had suffused her body was beginning to morph into a kind of flustered panic and he knew the moment was all but lost.

Irritated, his eyes faded to blue as he released his hold on her.

Bonnie scrambled off of Klaus, clutching the front of her shirt to her body. She hurriedly grabbed the torn pieces behind her and tied them into a knot.

Stefan was the first to recover. There were any number of scenarios he could have imagined walking in on, however this wasn't one of them.

Caroline was stunned. Did she just see Bonnie Sheila Bennett grinding on Klaus Mikaelson's wood? She tilted her head as if she was trying to confirm with her brain what her eyes had seen.

Bonnie was at a loss. Making out with Klaus was not an ideal conversation starter. She walked over to Caroline and wrapped her arms around her friend. The contact seemed to snap the vampire out of her stupor and she hugged the witch in return.

"Hey, Bonnie," she said finally. " _We are_ _so_ _going to talk about this_ ," she murmured in the witch's ear.

Bonnie held on to her for a moment longer before moving on to Stefan. As she hugged him, she heard him speak to Klaus before stepping back and resting his hand on her shoulders.

Aside from the flush of embarrassment, the pounding of her heart and a delicious scent emanating from her that Stefan hadn't known she was capable of producing, the witch looked no worse for wear. "Why don't you tell us what Klaus is doing here…Cliff Notes version?"

Bonnie took a cleansing breath, nodding, gratefully. "I got a lead on a weapon that might be strong enough to use on Bob. When I went down to New Orleans to look for it, I found out it had been stuck in Klaus for the past seven years. So I kind of stole him from the King of New Orleans and brought him back here. Told him what was going on and asked for his help. He said yes," she explained in a rush.

Stefan nodded, "Ok…Ok..." He had a million other questions but he knew that Caroline and Bonnie would want to talk first. He glanced over at the blonde and saw that she was still rooted to the spot; her mind still processing what she'd just seen.

"Well, I need to get our bags upstairs. I know the routine so you guys go ahead. I'm sure Klaus and I can keep each other company."

That last bit drew Klaus' attention and he was up and at Bonnie's side a moment later. "Company?"

"Whenever Caroline and I come to town, the first night back belongs to her and Bonnie," Stefan explained.

"Yeah," Caroline, chimed in. "And I _definitely_ think we're going to need it. _Right, Bonnie_?" The blonde asked, holding out her hand to the witch.

" _Right_ ," Bonnie answered, nodding. She turned to move toward Caroline when Klaus' hand on her wrist stopped her.

" _We_ will talk later," he said, his eyes boring into her.

The witch nodded as Caroline began to pull her along. Klaus finally looked at the blonde and saw all the questions bubbling in her blue eyes. Whether they were for him or Bonnie or both…he was certain they'd soon find out.

He watched as the two linked arms and made their way out of the study and toward the stairs.

Stefan came up and clapped him on the back. "They're going to go up there, lock the door, soundproof the room and the only way they come out of there before dawn is if they're looking for snacks."

 **BKBKBKBK**

Bonnie lit a bundle of sage and whispered a spell as she heard Caroline lock the door.

"So…how was your ride up? Weather said there was a storm front heading your way…did you get caught in it?" She asked lightly.

"If you think for one _second_ we're going to talk about anything other than what I just walked in on downstairs, you're out of your mind Bonnie Bennett," Caroline declared.

Bonnie turned to her friend. It had been three months since she'd seen the tall blonde in the flesh.

She was her sister in every way Elena wasn't. She'd always been a bit self-absorbed, but Bonnie attributed it to the fact that she'd lived her life as the apple of everyone's eye. And once she threw open to door to the supernatural, that trend continued. It was Elena's world, and they were all just players in it. And as such, she never seemed to truly grasp the magnitude of the consequences heaped on others for her sake.

But in the midst of that, when concern for anyone not named Elena Gilbert seemed to be at an all-time low, there was Caroline Forbes.

It was Caroline who'd been there for her after her Grams died. Caroline who'd been there when her mother was turned. It was Caroline who called out the unfairness of Bonnie being the one always made to suffer. It was Caroline, whose longing for her best friend compelled Bonnie's ghost to visit her so many times that awful summer.

It had surprised her, really. Jeremy was a medium and called her to him whenever he wanted. But to visit those without that ability, there needed to be a desire, a longing for her presence on their part. They wouldn't be able to perceive her, but she would be there. Matt had missed her. And because of it, she'd find herself beside him as he wrote email after email just say hello.

Caroline, on the other hand…while she busied herself with the flurry of preparing for their freshman year, her heart was heavy. Here they were about to embark on one of the most important rites of passage in their lives and they were doing it as supernaturals to boot. Tyler was on the run from Klaus and Elena spent nearly every hour of every day plastered to Damon, remaining oblivious to the needs of her brother and her friends.

Caroline had been scared and thrilled and full of doubt and all she wanted was to talk to her best friend about it. And so Bonnie would find herself with Caroline whenever she was alone; organizing her moving boxes as furiously as she tried to organize her thoughts.

Not once had Bonnie been called to Elena.

But seeing her sister standing there with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot expectantly, it was all Bonnie could do to not cry in happy relief.

" _God, I've missed you Care_." She sighed bounding over to wrap the vampire in bear hug.

Caroline squeezed her, "This is not getting you out of talking, young lady. What the _hell_ is going on with you and Klaus?"

"I don't know," the witch answered running her fingers through her hair. Just that simple movement stirred his scent around her. She was blanketed by it.

"Um…I think your lips know exactly what you're doing. You were making out with Klaus! _Just look at your shirt_ —hey that turned out pretty cute," she mused, inspecting the witch's attempt at salvaging both her dignity and her clothing.

"How did this _happen_? How long's it been going on?" She gasped, " _Are you two a thing_?"

"Long story…just tonight…and I don't know."

Caroline stared at her friend. If there were two people she knew like the back of her hand, it was Stefan Salvatore and Bonnie Bennett. And from the looks of Bonnie, her flustered mess of a friend was in a bad way and it had Klaus Mikaelson's name written all over it.

The vampire nodded slowly. " _Snacks_. We're gonna need _snacks_."

 **BKBKBKBK**

Stefan watched as Klaus' eyes drifted toward the ceiling for the umpteenth time since they'd heard Bonnie and Caroline come downstairs chattering as they raided the kitchen before returning to Bonnie's room. The hybrid was seated in a high backed chair reading or at the very least pretending to read. Stefan knew his thoughts were more than likely on whatever the hell was going on in Bonnie's room.

Klaus was _annoyed_. There really was no other way to put it. _He had her_. After the mire of Vincent, Marcel and Tyler, she'd still deemed him worthy of being in his arms…in his lap… _in his mouth_. He could still taste her for god's sake. Could feel the phantom sensation of her nails against his scalp. His fingers itched with the memory of her skin.

And where he should have been spending the next several days learning every minute detail of her body, instead he was down here with Stefan and that insufferable hound while his witch was upstairs receiving counsel from a former object of his affection. His eyes darted to Celeste who lay on the couch beside Stefan, her head on his lap. The beast's eyes were on him as if she were still trying to decide whether or not to bite him.

 _She's mine. Deal with it_. He glared.

His eyes then narrowed as the beast slowly climbed down and exited the study. He heard her trot up the stairs and paw at Bonnie's bedroom door. He then heard the door quickly open and that wretched animal ushered in.

 _Well played, Celeste_ , he thought, grudgingly.

"Doesn't get more awkward than this, does it?" Stefan asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"You two have the world's worst timing," the hybrid muttered.

Stefan nodded in agreement. "You're not the first to say that." "But since that brings up the elephant in the room in a roundabout way…"

Klaus set is book aside and waited, mildly amused at the vampire's discomfort.

Stefan gave a tired sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I never thought I'd end up in the position to ask this," he began, his eyes serious. "But what are your intentions towards Bonnie?"

Klaus scoffed, "Are you her father now?"

" _No_ …more like _concerned_ , relatively homicidal brother-n-law."

Klaus' eyebrows raised in question.

"We're getting married next June." Stefan explained. "Now answer the question. What are you doing, Klaus? Because whatever it is, I'm not going to let you drag Bonnie into it."

"And where did this newfound concern come from, Stefan? Bonnie has been very forthcoming regarding her trials of the past several years and yet I don't recall hearing your name as far as providing a great deal of assistance."

Stefan pursed his lips. He didn't need to be reminded of how many times he and everyone else had dropped the ball when it came to Bonnie or how many times he'd basically forgotten she existed until he needed something done. He'd spent the past few years trying to make amends. The budding friendship he'd allowed to fall by the wayside had slowly but surely been rebuilt and the responsibility he now felt toward his friend demanded that he put his nose where he knew it didn't belong.

"It comes from being her friend," Stefan answered. "And it comes from being someone who knows _you_. Now I'll be the first to admit that we need all the help we can get. And if Bonnie you've been helping her, great. But she's _not_ going to be your pawn, Klaus."

The hybrid chuckled. "That witch is no one's pawn. But if it makes you feel any better, my interest in Bonnie is entirely of a personal nature."

Stefan frowned, "Actually…that _doesn_ 't make me feel better. Are you forgetting that my only knowledge of your _personal_ pursuits consists of women you eventually drained...and Caroline?"

Klaus smirked, "Are you really going to hold a penchant for playing with my food and a moment of nostalgia against me?"

" _Nostalgia_? Is that what we're calling it now?"

" _Come now, Stefan_. You and your brother both know what it's like to encounter someone who embodies certain qualities of a past love. Although admittedly, I never went to the lengths you both did to acquire her."

"Caroline reminded you of someone from your past?" The vampire asked doubtfully.

"Indeed. She was human when I met her and quite affecting." He'd fallen in love with Aurora almost instantly. She'd been everything he believed he'd never be able to attain. Though she was noble born, she never carried herself above others. There was a grace to her, a pureness of spirit that made her a very kind and compassionate young woman, no matter how troubled. And despite his father's insistence that no one could love one such as him, Aurora had...or so he'd believed.

When he learned that Elijah inadvertently compelled her to reject him...to all but rip out his heart with her cruelty, it had been as though he'd lost her anew. To hear Mikael's words flow from her lips and know that his brother placed them there...

He'd believed he would never find her like again…until Caroline.

The similarities were unnerving at first, revealed to him as she lay dying from a bite he'd ordered Tyler to give her. They looked nothing alike of course, but they shared the same lust for life and were hindered by the same insecurities. He'd wanted to relive his time with Aurora through her, just as he'd originally wanted to relive his time with Marcel through Tyler.

In both instances, he'd failed spectacularly. Tyler could not replace Marcel and he'd resented him for it. He'd done Caroline the disservice of ignoring the winning creature she was in favor of the person he wanted to her to be. It wasn't until their interlude in the woods that he finally heard her. Of course she was attracted to him, how could she not be? But unlike her doppelganger friend, she would not allow that attraction to change the trajectory of her spirit or her life.

And he is all the better for her refusal. For while he does care for the blonde vampire, he did not love her as he loved Aurora. Nor did she inspire within him a desire to break with cycles that had been in play for a millennia as Bonnie did. Had he been successful in his pursuit, the vicissitudes of his life may have killed her or any attempts to define agency for herself would have led her to betray him as Rebekah had…as Marcel had…as Tyler had.

Bonnie was a different matter altogether. Before her he'd been oblivious to how repetitive and lazy he'd become since breaking his curse. How madly he'd tried to cling to an old life rather than accept the pains that came with living a new one. He should have known better. He should have seen it for himself, for he is an artist who knows that repetition is the language of the uninspired. And what else could he call the majority of his choices except uninspired? Exercises in futility carried out by a vampire set in his ways.

Yet in the midst of his folly, his wolf brought about Hope, a chance to correct the mistakes heaped on him by a tyrant and a mother too weak and petty to protect him. A living representation of all the possibilities that lay before him if he would only see them.

And now his wolf has brought him to Bonnie. And as she inspired him to break with the old, so too has she inspired him to build. He wants to _build_ with her. To thrust hands in earth and build a life worthy of them both. For one such as she is worth a great deal more than his hands had previously wrought.

"If Caroline was a moment of nostalgia...then what's Bonnie?" Stefan asked warily. What the hell had been going on with these two? As far as he knew they had nothing in common. And yet it was more than obvious that Klaus was not only confident in his involvement with Bonnie, but also comfortable.

Klaus pondered the vampire's question. The proper word had been bouncing around in the back of his mind from the moment he'd kissed her. And even the merest thought of her now caused it to resonate throughout his being.

He smiled, having no choice but to marvel at the twist and turns that had brought him to such an unexpected yet deeply desired point.

"My _mate_...or rather she will be." The hybrid said smoothly.

"And...does Bonnie _want_ to mate with you?" Stefan asked awkwardly.

"That is a much more complicated question, my friend." While certain concerns still lingered, Klaus knew the witch cared for him. He knew that she clung to the word 'friend' as if it were a life raft. As if that one word could save her from him.

It wouldn't.

She was his. _He knew it_. And on some level, _she knew it_. The question now, was what she intended to do about it. It was no secret that the witch was cautious. Nor was it a secret that she'd been repeatedly backed into corners in favor of someone else's will. If he pressed her, she might bolt. He would give chase if he had to, but the prospect displeased him. He didn't want to wear her down. He wanted to draw her in. To have her come to him. To have her give her heart not in weary surrender, but as the gift it truly was.

She would be with him...all that was left was for her to realize it.

 **BKBKBKBK**

"So...you... _care_ about him?" Caroline asked, grabbing a handful of popcorn. She'd finally gotten over the initial shock of finding her best friend making out with Klaus. And despite her shock, she hadn't failed to notice how focused the hybrid had been on Bonnie before she'd pulled her away.

On one hand she was as thrilled as anyone would be to see their best friend step outside of routine. Bonnie was the undisputed queen of safe choices when it came to her love life. And for the most part Caroline could understand why. But the results of those choice left much to be desired.

Jeremy turned out to be a complete waste of space, proving that the famous Gilbert self-absorption didn't belong solely to his sister/cousin. The boy was weak. And Bonnie paid the price for his weakness. And when he wasn't being weak, he was being small; fucking anything that moved while wallowing in his boypain.

And while Enzo may have been an upgrade, he wasn't very much of one as far as Caroline was concerned. He certainly cared for her more than Jeremy did. But instead of Enzo making the effort to be his own person, he'd spent so much time trying to be someone else, namely Damon. She got that he'd lived in hell for decades and was trying to make whatever connection he could get. But when he didn't get his way he'd become petty, mean and vengeful.

She and Bonnie talked while she lived in his cabin and it was clear that Bonnie saw something in him that got to her. But from what _she_ knew of Enzo St. John, Caroline was not impressed.

Neither the boy nor the wannabe were good enough for Bonnie Bennett as far as she was concerned.

On the other hand, Bonnie picked one helluva way to break out of her comfort zone. The hybrid had his own mixed bag of issues, the least of them being his need to control everything and everyone. A trait she'd learned about first hand. Yes he could be charming and tender and passionate. But he could also be cruel and callous, even to those he said he cared about. But he could also be counted on in a way that Bonnie needed, especially now. And if she was comfortable enough with him to have his tongue down her throat, she wouldn't question it... _yet_.

"Of course, I mean we're _friends_. I _care_ for my friends," Bonnie answered lightly. The word still didn't seem to fit. It certainly didn't fit the way she felt downstairs and it didn't fit the way she'd been feeling for some time now. But whenever she tried to define what they were for herself, her thoughts would dissolve into a melting pot of confusion and yearning.

"Yeah but since when did you start grinding on your friends? _What about me_? I mean there _must_ be some kind of code that says your best friend gets first dibs on trips to Bonnie Town."

"Caroline!" The witch's eyes were wide in mock horror.

"So then we can dispel with this idea that Klaus is your _friend_ ," the vampire concluded. "But if he's not your friend, then what is he?"

Silence.

"Okay...so then what do you want him to be?"

"It doesn't matter what I want right now," Bonnie said tiredly. "I can't afford to think about any of that until after Bob's locked away in my prison world."

" _Oh God_...here we go _again_..." The vampire sighed, rolling her eyes and reaching for the bottle of bourbon at her feet. She loved her, but _damn_ could she get in her own way.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Caroline took a swig from the bottle and passed it to her. "We've been at this since we were sixteen years old, Bon. We're going to be thirty next year. How come you're the one so willing to put your life on hold until 'after'? None of us did."

"Well it's not like I had much choice. _Somebody_ had to be responsible. _Somebody_ had to make the hard choices. It's not like any of you wanted the job," Bonnie said, bringing the bottle to her lips.

"True. I wouldn't want to go through what you've been through if you paid me. And I know we all put way too much on you. But I swear it's like as soon Grams died you resolved yourself to _this_. You always said that it never ends well for people like you. Maybe that's true, or maybe it doesn't have to be. But there's a life to live before that and you're always missing it in favor of 'after' when there is no after. _This is it_. _These_ are our lives, as crazy as they are. You can't wait until the coast is clear to start to live yours, because it never really will be."

"It's not that easy, Care..."

" _Yes_ it is. I'll be the first to admit that we've all been selfish when it comes to you. I think we could all learn from you about what friendship means- _I know I've certainly learned_. But I also think that maybe you could learn a little bit from us. Because frankly, none of us are willing to put _every fucking thing_ before our own happiness."

"Your lives aren't as complicated as mine, Care. It's not the same thing. I can't just say 'fuck it, I'll do what I want' just because you guys did."

" _No_. But you can start putting yourself into the equation instead of automatically taking yourself out of it. Your happiness is no less important than the rest of ours. You life isn't less important than ours and I think that you think that it actually _is_ less important."

"Remember that at Elena's Welcome Home party," she scoffed bitterly.

"Bonnie-"

"You don't know what it's like, Care. Imagine how it feels to walk around feeling like everyone you love is just biding their time with you until the important one gets to come back. I don't blame myself for what happened with Kai...But I can't help feeling like maybe I should have been the one to sleep instead of Elena." She took another swig from the bottle, letting the burn distract from the tears stinging her eyes.

Caroline was at a loss. How could she tell Bonnie that she was wrong when there's a mountain of evidence to the contrary? They'd all put Elena on a pedestal, placed her value above others and the result is that the very best of them thought she'd be better off in a box.

"What Kai did to you is the one of the shittiest things I've ever heard of. And if there's a hell, I hope it's 1,000 times worse for him than that prison world that shat him out. Yes, we've all put Elena before all else...and when I think back on it, I can't for the life of me figure out why.

"She got to do whatever she wanted, say whatever she wanted, fuck over whoever she wanted and we let it go. And we were wrong, Bonnie. _We were so goddamn wrong_. Elena Gilbert isn't more important than you or anybody else and I am so sorry we made you feel that way. And it sucks that even though she's cooling her heels for the next few decades, she's still this much a part of our lives. Not only does it suck, it's dangerous. It's dangerous to let anyone have that much of an effect on any of us. _Damon_ being the most recent example."

"What are you talking about?"

"You told me that the night Bob got out, the last thing you heard Damon say was Elena's name. That he sounded like he was looking for her. Damon's not stupid, relatively speaking. He knew that Elena wasn't there. He knew she couldn't talk him. And yet Bob was able to sniff out that irrational obsession he has with her and use it against him. And now he's gone because of it. He couldn't see past her and now he's a glorified meat puppet."

"Care…" Bonnie admonished, she knew Caroline had no love for Damon and never would, but he had been Stefan's brother and one of her best friends.

"I know...I know...What I'm trying to say is that it's time to stop catering to Elena. Stop looking at your life as the prologue to the rest of Elena's story. This is _your_ story. Did you know that I stopped writing in the journal?"

"You did?" Bonnie asked. After Bob was released, she'd gone back to Enzo's cabin to grab a few personal items including the journal she'd been writing for Elena, but she hadn't been able to bring herself to write in it. Unable to write that Damon had been lost trying to save her.

"My last journal entry was right after Bob got out," the vampire explained. "I think we came up with the idea to write to her with the best of intentions. But all it does it keep her in the forefront and that's not fair to any of us and especially _you_. We're still catering to her and she's not even here. So I stopped. I've got kids I only get to see every few months. I've got a fiancé who's lost his brother, I've got a best friend who's about to go up against our worst enemy and I've got a wedding to plan. _I don't have time for Elena Gilbert_. None of us do." She reached over suddenly and pulled Bonnie into a tight hug.

"I need you to promise me that you're going to live for yourself first. Not tomorrow, not next week, not _after fucking Bob_. _Right now_. Because if you don't, I swear to God I'll turn you when you least expect it and give you all the time in the world to work on it. _Even_ if you hate me for it." She squeezed her tighter, punctuating the point.

Bonnie burst into laughter. She knew Caroline was right. She'd just told Klaus that night that they'd done a disservice to themselves and in a way she still was. It's not easy to want and plan when all of your wants and plans have gone to shit so often.

"I promise," she said, her voice muffled by Caroline's shoulder.

"Besides...when you do kick off—which I hope won't be for a _very, very long time_ , you can go knowing that the law of averages catches up with everyone," Caroline offered, releasing her hold on the witch.

"What are you talking about?"

"When Elena wakes up, what's left of Damon will be dead and Stefan will be very married," The blonde explained, shrugging. "Can't win em all." It was a petty way to look at it but it was long past due for Elena to have to put in actual work for her own happiness.

"Oh my God, Petty McPetterstein!" Bonnie shrieked hitting her with a throw pillow.

"I own it," Caroline admitted. "Self awareness is a beautiful thing. Now...is living for _yourself_ going to involve _Klaus_?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes and groaned, "I don't know..."

"Well there's only one way to find out. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. So get to stepping."

 **BKBKBKBK**

Bonnie stood on the third floor balcony. She didn't want to run into Stefan downstairs and she knew it would only be a matter of time before Klaus found her.

His large warm hand sliding across her stomach and drawing her into his body, proved her right as she relaxed against him; feeling his warmth seep into her skin.

"You managed to escape Caroline's clutches?"

Bonnie snorted. "More like she kicked me out."

"Now _why_ would she do such a thing?"

"She thinks we should _talk_."

"Does she now?"

Bonnie was quiet. When she didn't speak after several moments, Klaus dropped a kiss on her temple. "Say something, little witch," he coaxed.

"Have you ever heard of a gameshow called Supermarket Sweep?" she asked, finally.

Klaus frowned, the question taking him off guard. "No, _thankfully_."

"Well the premise is that you have three or four contestants in a supermarket. And each of them gets an empty shopping have five minutes to race through the store and grab as much as their cart will hold. If they get their cart back to the checkout before the time expires, they get to keep everything in the cart," she explained.

"Consumerism at its finest," Klaus said, dryly.

"Yeah…" Bonnie agreed. "Well, you see…this link between me and Elena? It feels like I'm stuck in a really shitty game of Supermarket Sweep.

"After Damon chose to save me, I spent months chaperoning him and Alaric. After that, I was dealing with Heretics and the Phoenix Stone. And after _that_ , the Armory and now Bob."

"I didn't have to think about it before we had a plan but now...I've started thinking about what life after Bob looks like for me. But because of this stupid link, it feels like there's this dead end sign waiting for me in the distance. I can't see it, but I know it's there and the handful of decades I have left are pushing me towards it. And I've wasted so much time doing other things— _important things_ —that I feel like once everything calms down, I'm going to have to run around pushing my cart, grabbing at any and everything before the clock runs out. And then I'll just have to hope that what's in there is everything I wanted or needed and not just the things I grabbed in a rush to avoid ending up with nothing."

Klaus caught the scent of her tears and his arms tightened around her.

"And it sucks because I don't want to rush. There's things I want to explore and enjoy and savor...things that I want to dedicate _time_ to."

"Such as?"

"Learning more about being a witch... _finally_ getting to watch my goddaughters grow up..." She drew in a shaky breath, "... _you_..."

Her arms came to rest on top of his. "I don't know what _this_ is...hell, it might be nothing at all. But I want the chance to find out and-"

Klaus turned her gently to face him, his hands cupping her cheeks. " _This_ is _far_ from nothing. And as for that link—." His words were cut off as Bonnie pressed her lips to his softly. She stood on her tiptoes as her fingertips steepled lightly on his jaw. Though his hands slid down to her waist, he kept himself still, giving her the time she needed to accept and recalibrate. In the past, she'd shown herself to be honest...caring...passionate...full of determination. And so he could only marvel now as she poured those virtues and a host more into the sweetest kiss he'd ever received.

"We're _not_ friends," she said, ending the kiss as her luminous eyes gleamed with certainty.

He brushed aside a tendril of hair from her face. "If I have my way, we will be a great deal more than that, little witch."

Bonnie could only blink at the hard flop her stomach made at his words.

"...and since I've grown rather _fond_ of having my way..." His voice trailed off as he smirked, enjoying the small laugh that bubbled out of her and the blush that accompanied it.

"I need to get back..." She said when she sobered.

Klaus pulled her again into his embrace and rested his chin atop her head. "You don't," he said quietly.

"If I don't, Caroline's going to come looking for and I don't think we want a repeat of earlier."

"I've never been one to shy away from an audience."

" _Klaus_..." He stopped her with a peck on her lips, tilting her chin up.

"Call me Nik," he said softly as he gazed at her. His blue eyes seeming black in the moonlight.

Her stomach chose that moment to start flopping about in earnest. "Um...ok... _Nik_ ," she said, trying the name out hesitantly.

He ghosted another kiss across her lips. " _Again_ ," he said.

"Nik," she repeated, her tone more confident as his lips trailed her jawline before hovering near the shell of her ear. If he kept this up...

"Once more?" He whispered, before his lips found the delicate spot behind her earlobe.

" _Nik_..." She moaned in reply.

" _Perfect_ ," he purred, claiming her lips again as he set about kissing her senseless, his tongue reacquainting itself after such a long absence. And since he intended to do this—among other things—quite often, best she start getting used to it now. Once he was certain he'd achieved his aim, he drew back to admire his handiwork.

The hybrid had done a clean sweep of her faculties leaving her unable to do anything except stand there and gaze at him—her eyes hooded, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips.

Klaus couldn't hide the smugness in his smile when he had to gently turn her toward the door by her shoulders. His smile grew into a grin when she simply stood there, seemingly unable to remember how put one foot in front of another. He gave her the gentlest nudges to get her moving in the right direction as he watched her shuffle reluctantly back into the house.

When Bonnie opened her bedroom door, she found Celeste on the floor; her legs flailing wildly in the air as Caroline vigorously rubbed her belly—the vampire making the most ridiculous snarling noise as she worked.

Caroline looked up into Bonnie's stunned face as she closed the door behind her and pressed her back against it. She knew that look when she saw it.

"Soooo..." she sang. "You falling for him?" Her look was expectant.

Bonnie nodded slowly, "Yes..."

"Ok," the vampire said and she clapped her hands together and got to her feet. "Now that that's all squared away...You won't _believe_ what happened to us in Utah!" She squealed.

_  
A/N: So ends the second act. I can't believe I'm 15 chapters into this fic. The third and final act is supposed to be 10 chapters long but depending on how mapping out each chapter goes, it *might* be 11 or 12 chapters if I feel that the ending is being rushed. Now if you all will be so kind as to pray for me, I need to do a small rewatch of S7 for Damon and a few other subjects specifically (yes that's a spoiler).

Thanks for keeping me motivated with your reads and reviews. I love reading your thoughts on where this story is going, the feedback is invaluable. Now I'm going to see about my neglected Tumblr. Cheers!


	16. Intervention

**Intervention**

 _Bonnie smiled at the light giggle that tickled her ears. "If you don't stop moving little girl..." She warned._

 _"I can't help it Bon Bon! It tickles!" Came the giggling reply._

 _"Just hold your breath, JoJo!" Her sister advised as she lay on an altar next to her sister._

 _Bonnie peered up at JoJo in time to see the five-year old suck in a ridiculous amount of air, inflating her chubby cheeks to capacity. Shaking her head fondly, she dipped her paintbrush into the small bowl in her hand and returned to painting the symbols for her spell on the soles of the child's tiny feet._

 _Both girls lay on altars wearing matching floral bathing suits as Bonnie worked, JoJo's feet twitching with every brushstroke. She'd already completed the markings on Lizzie's forehead arms and legs. Her twin's were almost finished._

 _After Bonnie got her magic back, one of the first things she did was call Caroline. Now that she had magic again she felt more able to look at certain problems magically. One: Aside from the alarms, Celeste, the weapons locker and more than a few magical items that, this estate was pretty much undefended. And while that hadn't necessarily been a problem before, she knew it wouldn't be long before Bob got wind that a highly powerful magic had just been rebirthed into the world. Her magic gave her the ability to fight back, but it also made her the biggest target. A barrier spell would need to be put in place and it would need to be a doozy._

 _Thinking about what kind to cast brought her back the last barrier spell she'd cast. She placed it around this place to keep Bob and everyone from the Armory inside. And Caroline's girls ended up siphoning all the magic out of it in Damon's attempt to save her._

 _Caroline's girls. Two siphoner witches. Since they were sisters and twins at that, Bob couldn't infect them. But that didn't mean he couldn't use them against her. Right now, they were with Alaric as he moved them from one safehouse to another, never staying in one place for too long. With Damon and Enzo, Bob now had information on everyone they knew. The girls hadn't been discovered, but without some added protection, it was only a matter of time before they would be._

 _So she'd called Caroline and after a rushed explanation about her magic, she'd told her to contact Alaric and get the girls up to Maryland as soon as possible._

 _When the paintbrush glided over JoJo's tiny arch, the child lost it. The air blew out of her cheeks as she squealed in laughter, drawing her knees up to her chest._

 _"JoJo stop giving your Aunt Bonnie such a hard time," Caroline chided gently._

 _"And if you can stay still until I finish your foot and do the spell...I'll let you guys watch Kiki's Delivery Service," Bonnie added._

 _Lizzie sat up, instantly alert and glared at her sister. "Stay still," she commanded. She was not missing out on one of their favorite movies because her sister was a giggle monster._

 _JoJo nodded, sobering. She made her body as rigid as she could and squeezed her eyes shut for the next onslaught._

 _Bonnie was able to finish the little girl's foot with little trouble._

 _After checking her work on both girls, Bonnie stood between the two altars. "Care, I'm going to need you to step outside of the circle."_

 _"Is this gonna hurt, Mama?" Lizzie asked, her eyes suddenly wide._

 _"Oh no honey, no. It's going to be just like you guys practiced, remember? And me and Kiki are going to we waiting right here for you when it's over." Caroline nodded at Bonnie before leaving the circle her friend had drawn behind the main house._

 _Bonnie's hands hovered over both girls' heads. "Now remember, when you feel my magic...don't be scared and don't pull." The girls had been there for several days now working with Bonnie on how to control their siphoning ability in preparation for this spell. Bonnie was so powerful now that any time she touched them, they would latch onto her magic and pull without even realizing they were doing it. Three-year old siphoning twins had been able to pull the magic from a barrier placed by a Bennett witch who'd been at death's door at the time she'd cast it. However, five-year old siphoning twins trying to pull from a perfectly healthy and infinitely more powerful Bennett witch resulted in the two cherubs passing out from the overload of too much magic entering their young bodies too quickly._

 _It had taken some creativity on both Caroline and Bonnie's parts to get them to the point where they focused on not indulging what is ultimately a natural reflex for them. And since neither girl turned out to be a fan of passing out, they were even more determined to work on preventing it._

 _"What's gonna happen, Bon Bon?" JoJo finally asked in a hushed whispered._

 _Bonnie smiled down into the little girl's adorable face. "I'm going to make you two the best hide n' go seek players ever," she promised._

 _Bonnie placed her fingertips lightly on their waited a few moments to see if they'd latch on. When they didn't, she began to chant her spell. The wind picked up, rustling the trees nearby._

 _Bonnie felt her magic unfurl and begin to flow from her fingertips and into the children before her. She made certain to move slowly so as not to startle them as her spell worked._

 _The symbols she'd painted on their bodies began to brighten and glow. Bonnie could see Caroline standing outside of the circle, fidgeting as she watched her daughters lying peacefully in the midst of Bonnie's magic. The light emanating from their symbol grew so bright that it seemed to engulf all three witches in giant white orb. The light flared and pulsed several times as Bonnie continued to chant._

 _And then just as suddenly as it had appeared, it was gone. The spell complete._

 _Bonnie smiled down at both girls. "There…was that so bad?" She motioned for Caroline to come back into the circle._

 _Caroline rushed over, inspecting each child. "The symbols…they're gone."_

 _Bonnie shook her head, "No, they aren't. They've been imprinted on their blood." Bonnie moved over to a small table nearby, a map laying across it. She looked back towards the main house._

" _Alaric!"_

 _The former college professor soon came out, wearing on a pair of swim trunks._

" _Daddy! We did it!" Lizzie squealed._

" _I know! I saw through the window. Now it's Daddy's turn." He scooped both girls off the altars, carrying one under each arm. After giving them one good spin, he set them down in front of their mother before going over to stand next to Bonnie."_

" _I need a bit of your blood," she said, handing him a small dagger._

 _Since Damon and Enzo knew of Lizzie and JoJo's existence, Bob knew of it. Which meant that if he decided to come for them, he would need a locator spell and the performance of any locator spell requires the blood of a relative. Thanks to Kai, all of the Parkers as well as all of the Gemini Coven had been wiped out, except for Lizzie and JoJo. So neither Parker nor Coven blood was available for use. However, Alaric did have relatives, even if he hadn't been in contact with them in years. Many relatives. Many easily found relatives. Bonnie needed to eliminate them as a factor in finding the girls._

 _After a search through one of her ancestor's grimoires, she found the spell she needed._

 _Bonnie watched as Alaric squeezed several drops of blood onto the map. When he'd spilled enough, she waved him off, gathering her magic. She recited a locator spell, focusing her magic at the map._

 _His blood seemed to flatten and thin before breaking apart into dozens of scarlet tendrils, fanning out in all directions across the map._

" _That's what's going to happen anytime someone tries a locator spell._ _Any locator spell_ _. Magically speaking, they're off the grid," Bonnie explained. Alaric and the girls would still need to live the safe house life, but they'd have a bit more freedom and the largest threat to their discovery was taken care of._

" _Come on girls, let's get you changed," Caroline said, ushering them away. "We'll be back out in a minute."_

 _Bonnie nodded, already motioning for Alaric to lie down on one of the altars as his daughters had._

" _I can't thank you enough for this Bonnie," he said as she began applying the paint brush to his forehead._

" _You don't have to thank me; I'm happy to do it," she murmured, concentrating on drawing the symbol correctly._

 _He was quiet for a few moments before speaking again. "When's Stefan getting back?" The vampire had taken a truck from the Armory garage and gone on a supply run._

" _Not sure. He said he'd be back before you and girls leave. He's picking up enough for you to take with you."_

 _The retired hunter nodded. "Thanks for that too."_

 _Bonnie smiled, "What kind of godmother would I be if I didn't hook my godkids up every now and then? Where are you guys headed when you go?"_

" _Delaware. Called in a few favors, got clean documents for me and the girls. We should be ok."_

" _Good."_

" _What are you going to do with this place, Bonnie?" Alaric asked after several minutes._

" _What do you mean?" the witch asked, having moved to work on one of his arms. Since she'd been there, her focus stayed on finding a solution to their Bob problem and not much else._

" _The Armory as an institution is gone, Bonnie. All personnel completely wiped out. This place is yours now. And so is everything in it. Artifacts, grimoires, journals, weapons. This place is like a magical Smithsonian…and it's all yours. Once you find a way to deal with Bob, what are you going to do with it?"_

 _Bonnie frowned, "Haven't really thought that far ahead." The Bob problem was big enough. Thinking past that seemed like a waste of brain cells that should be focused on the situation at hand._

" _It's something you need to think about, Bonnie," Alaric pressed on. "There's too many things here that can be dangerous if they fall into the wrong hands. This place needs to be protected._

 _Bonnie nodded, "You're right. But I really don't have the energy to think about that just yet." She moved to start on his other arm._

" _You know what I'd do with it if I were you?"_

 _Bonnie looked up from his arm expectantly._

" _This place…with the sheer amount of knowledge and power within it can make you a player in the supernatural world. This place could be a tremendous resource for you. The Armory was founded to collect magical items and keep them safe. If I were you, I'd continue that mandate. But instead of being run by unscrupulous, manipulative, sadists…it could be run by you. Rebuild the Armory in your image."_

 _Bonnie's paintbrush hovered over Alaric's bicep as she gaped at him. "Wow…um…that's…a lot." How would she rebuild in her image when she still didn't know what her image was? It wasn't a bad idea. It just seemed too big of an idea to seriously consider at the moment._

" _It is a lot…But if anyone could pull it off, you could."_

" _Tell you what…I'll give some thought to what I'm going to do_ _after_ _I deal with Bob, ok? I'm too focused on the present to think about the future just yet."_

" _Alright…that's all I'm asking."_

 _Bonnie's eyes narrowed as she eyed Alaric critically, "You'd want me to give you a job wouldn't you?" She asked, smirking._

" _Oh hell yeah," he answered, chuckling._

 **BKBKBKBK**

"You do realize that staring is rude, don't you?" Stefan whispered into Caroline's ear. He'd come downstairs to find her standing just outside of the kitchen door, peering discreetly inside.

"I _know_ it is, but I can't help it." She whispered back. "It's like watching an episode of Meerkat Manor."

"Of _what_?"

"Meerkat Manor. It was this show on Animal Planet Bonnie and I watched when we were kids. A film crew was observing this family of meerkats in the wild. Danger, family conflict, teenage angst…that show had it all."

"And spying on Bonnie and Klaus making breakfast reminds you of meerkats?" The two in question were standing in front of the stovetop. Bonnie scrambling eggs while Klaus stood behind her, his hands resting on her hips as they conversed in low tones.

" _Yes, it does_. The thing about the show was that they were meerkats but they were _so normal_. I mean like _real people normal_. Look at them. Have you seen anything _that_ normal?"

" _Yes. Us."_

" _Pftt!" Caroline_ scoffed. "They've only been at this for a minute and Klaus still hasn't dipped his wick. They're nowhere near 'us' level."

" _We can hear you, you know_ …" Bonnie called over to the whispering vampires. Caroline and Stefan had been there a little over a week now and they were slowly beginning to fall into a routine. Since Bonnie spent the majority of her time there alone, it was always a bit of an adjustment when someone was staying. It had been when she'd brought Klaus, and it always was when Caroline and Stefan came to visit. Having all three of them there at the same time was even more of an adjustment.

Klaus on the other hand, seemed unbothered. While she had long grown accustomed to being in each other's space before Caroline and Stefan's arrival, having an audience made her feel awkward. Public displays of affection were still hit or miss with her. Mostly because she was unaccustomed to really indulging in them as a regular thing. It had been that way with both Jeremy and Enzo. However Klaus was making it clear that it would not be that way with him.

Bonnie scraped her scrambled eggs into a nearby plate as Caroline and Stefan entered. Klaus reached for the mug of blood he'd abandoned in favor of Bonnie's hips and turned to face them.

"We've received word from Tyler's Alpha. All five packs are on board and should be here by the end of the week. Vincent, Marcel and company will be arriving sooner than that. We need to start making arrangements for where we're going to put all of these people for the next few weeks," Klaus explained.

"We don't have to worry too much about the wolves. Chloe said that once she told the other Alphas about where they were going, they decided they'd stay in the woods. Something about wanting to take advantage of a chance to commune with the land their ancestors walked," Bonnie added. "Plus there's going to be another full moon while they're here so it'll be much easier as far as keeping everyone else safe that night.

"How many wolves are we talking about here?" Stefan asked.

"Between the five packs…a little over two hundred," Bonnie answered.

"We're going to have over _two hundred wolves_ running loose around here during the full moon?" Caroline asked in disbelief. The idea was a bit unsettling. Having been on the receiving end of two bites and nearly dying, the idea of that much werewolf venom running around bothered her.

"Yes. _But_ we'll make sure that everyone else is in here the night of full moon," Bonnie assured. Ayanna hid in the caves below during the full moon. They could all do the same if need be.

"In any case," she continued, "We've got the barracks outside, plus sleeping quarters and additional showers in the basement and we can rearrange some of the rooms on the third floor. Vince and Marcel can stay in the guest rooms on the second floor, but we're still going to need some kind of temporary shelters for any overflow."

Stefan nodded towards Klaus. "We can take the truck today and pick up materials. We're also going to need to restock this place. Especially since we finally have a reason to use that dining hall."

"Great. Bonnie and I can go over the inventory before anyone else gets here. Get an idea of what's here that we can use. _And_ we can take a look at what to do about the third floor. Right, Bonnie?" Caroline looked toward the witch expectantly.

Bonnie was quiet for several moments, clearly lost in thought. When she still didn't speak, Klaus laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright, love?" He asked.

Bonnie snapped out of her reverie. "I'm fine. I've just got a lot on my mind. A lot to keep straight."

"Well look at it this way," Caroline chimed in, coming to stand next to the witch and slide an arm across her shoulders. "In two and half weeks, that comet will be here. It's almost over." She gave the witch's shoulders a squeeze.

"Yeah…" Bonnie said, her mind already starting to drift back to her thoughts. "It's almost over."

 **BKBKBKBK**

Logan sat quietly as the blood from his wrist poured in Enzo St. John's mouth. He wasn't feeding, preferring that his witches for the most part go unspoiled. But occasionally, the pull of their magic would be too strong and he would politely ask to indulge in a small taste. Considering everything the being within had done for them, his request was easily obliged.

They sat in the great room of the Salvatore Boardinghouse. They'd only been there a couple of weeks, having relocated from their stronghold in Oregon. From the looks of the place, it had been abandoned for several years. But after a little bit of magic and a little bit of elbow grease, the boardinghouse eventually had been restored to its former glory. They were here. And now their forces were gathering in Mystic Falls, Virginia for their final journey to Maryland…to their master's final vessel.

The front door was thrown open and Damon Salvatore strode in. "We've got a problem."

Enzo's lips unfastened from Logan's wrist. "Don't we always, darling?"

"New Orleans is overdue to check in," Damon explained. The solitaries they'd planted in the court of Marcel Gerard had been instructed to report to him every 2 weeks. They were two days overdue to make contact and a feeling of unease had begun to descend on the vampire as each hour passed.

Logan stood and moved over to the large pool table. Upon their arrival, he'd seized it for his own, converting it into a magical workstation.

Because of their recruitment efforts, they'd established cells of solitary witches and Logan was able to track and or channel them with ease. They'd offered up personal items for his use and the witch quickly gathered up the items belonging to the solitaries stationed in New Orleans.

He gathered the small items in his hands and began to channel. After several moments, the witch frowned before dropping the items back onto the felt top of the pool table.

"They're gone," he said in confusion.

"What do you mean ' _gone'_?" Damon demanded.

Logan grabbed the items up again, trying to pull something… _anything_ out of them.

Nothing.

"Their connection to these items has been cut off."

"So are they alive or dead?" Enzo asked.

"I don't know. They could be dead. Or they could be alive and shielded. Either way, I can't get to them."

Enzo stood, walking over to the pool table. "This Nikalus Mikaelson is spotted at the Armory and now few weeks later, we've been cut off from New Orleans. I don't believe in coincidences, my loves."

"You think Mikaelson got to Gerard?" Logan asked.

"No way," Damon declared. "From every bit of info we've got, Gerard would kill him as soon as look at him. No…no… _this_ has Bonnie's name written all over it. Klaus doesn't play well with others…but Bonnie does." Somehow the witch had gotten to Gerard and formed an alliance.

"Even if she got to him, he'd still would have needed some magical muscle to take down our witches," Logan pointed out. "Is it possible the Nine Covens are involved?"

Damon nodded. _Oh it was more than possible_. That had to be what fucking happened.

"So the witch has managed to not only cut us off from New Orleans, she formed an alliance with the King of New Orleans and the Regent of the Nine Covens. _And_ she did it under all of our noses." Enzo concluded. _Oh he liked this witch._ He liked her very much indeed. Such a _sparkly_ little thing. Damon and Enzo's memories of her told him that much at least. But there was a boldness and cunning there…a charisma. She'd managed to rally natural enemies under her banner. _What else had she been up to_?

He couldn't wait to find out.

"If she's got Gerard and Griffith, then she could have others." Damon pointed out. The little witch was actually putting together an army to put up a fight. And she was spoiling for a fight.

"Raw data says that even with Marcel's army and the Nine Covens we outnumber them. However they have a much more powerful mixture. Marcel's army contains Strix members and centuries old vampires along with their supercharged leader. The Nine Covens are all bonded witches. Tell me _again_ why we never pulled the trigger on that city before?" Logan asked.

"Because if had, we'd still have the Nine Covens to deal with. The only reason we've gotten as far as we have is because the covens have chosen to stay out of it. We go after the French Quarter and the other covens would have to respond. After all, if we'll go after the French Quarter, then we'll got after any of them. A truth we don't want them to know until after we have the Bennett Witch." Once he made Bonnie his vessel, he would fashion the immortality spell Damon told him about. And then his reign would begin. All would be cleansed. And if the covens refused to bend the knee…well then…all that lovely Bennett magic would be more than capable of eliminating them.

It would be as it should have always been.

He would be as he should have been.

An immortal witch. And not just any immortal witch. With an army of followers, a reservoir of ley energy beneath the Armory and museum's worth of magical items within it, he would be the most powerful witch alive. And all would fall before him.

"This changes nothing. None of us assumed she would put of no defense at all. If New Orleans is lost to us, so be it. We have the numbers and we have an ace up our sleeve." If the witch wanted a stand up fight, he would be more than happy to oblige her.

Because unlike most, he preferred to see the show _before_ dinner.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Bonnie stood before the altar in her bedroom. She opened the wooden box on top of it, revealing Papa Tunde's blade nestled in a bed of black salt. She hadn't looked at it since the day she pulled it from Klaus.

She shook her head in wonder. That seemed like ages ago. It was startling to realize what all had happened between that moment and this one. And in this moment, the blade was large in her thoughts. It had begun as a small seed in the back of her mind, but over the past few days, that seed and taken root and begun to flower. And each bloom held the same idea. An idea she never would have thought of on her own. It made no sense. _Why would she do something like that?_

She'd tried to shake the thought from her mind but with every attempt, she'd suddenly be reminded of her words to Klaus the day she'd emerged from the ley pool.

" _Did they tell you anything?" He'd asked._

" _Nope…But they will. And whatever it is…I'll do it." She'd answered._

Tarantino once said that "the less willing we are to make declarative statements, the less apt we are to look foolish in retrospect."

Was this her moment to look foolish? Her time to regret her words?

Every revelation, every vision she'd received had proven to be her benefit. But when she tried to focus on the reason for this recent development, she came up empty. There was no reason available to her. Only a certainty that sat in her mind growing more and more firm in its belief that this is what she must do. However if she was wrong. If they were wrong, the consequences of this one act would ruin everything they'd been working on. All would be lost.

As trust exercises go…this one had no equal.

"Communing with Papa Tunde are we?" Bonnie heard from her bedroom door. Klaus leaned against the doorway watching her.

"When did you guys get back?"

"Not long ago. We have enough materials now to start building. Once we have more hands available to us, we'll be able to put up a few more."

He came to stand beside her. "You seem troubled."

"I've just something on my mind," she murmured.

"Can I help?"

Bonnie shook her head slowly. "Nope. It looks like this is one I'm going to have to work out on my own." She reached into the box and lifted the blade into her hands. The dark magic it contained responded immediately to her presence, seeming to flare and spark against her skin.

"As much as I loathe that thing, I must admire its simplicity," Klaus said.

"It is kind of pretty," Bonnie agreed. "No one would think it held so much darkness and could cause so much suffering.

Klaus nodded, "Indeed. It is a hidden threat. So unassuming as to be forgotten or ignored yet devastating if found in the wrong hands."

The hybrid's words seemed to vibrate on the same frequency as the idea in her mind. They echoed in concert before melding into one simple command:

 _Do it. Do it now. If you don't do it now, you never will._

Bonnie turned the blade over in her hands. "Nik?" she asked.

"Yes, love?" His brow was furrowed. There was a reluctance and a dread about the witch. As if she'd just resigned herself to some horrible fate. His own sliver of dread began to slice its way along his spine.

"Promise you won't get mad?" Her eyes were suddenly full of sadness and fear.

"What are you—"

His words were cut off as he watched, unable to stop her as she plunged the blade into her chest.

The pain was blinding as she felt the cursed weapon burrow itself into her body. Whatever reason they had for this, it damn well better be a good one, she thought as she felt the darkness start to descend. And as everything faded to black, all she could hear was Klaus screaming her name.

A/N: So begins the third act. Don't ask how I got another update out this quickly. It might have something to do with the fact that I played hooky from work yesterday and my muse decided that writing was more important than rewatching S7 today. Fair warning. Several pieces of shit are going go hit several fans over the next couple of updates.

As always, thanks for the reads and reviews!


	17. Ends and Means

**Ends and Means**

 _He was going to kill her_ **.**

That was the first rational thought he'd had after the instant chaos the witch created. When he saw the blade pierce her, he immediately moved to stop her; to grab the blade before it began its descent into her body. But whatever magical insanity the witch was about, made him physically unable to even touch the blade let alone grab it. He watch as pain flooded her features before her eyes rolled back and she collapsed in his arms. He shook her... _screamed at her_ , which only resulted in bringing Caroline and Stefan running.

Caroline became a ball of hysteria. Stefan, a mouth full of accusations. He swallowed the urge to snap both of their necks in favor on focusing on the situation.

Bonnie stabbed herself with Papa Tunde's blade. _Why one earth would she do such a thing?_

He'd carried her over to her bed and laid her down gently.

 _"What are we going to do?" Caroline demanded. Her eyes were frantic as she wrung her hands._

 _"Did she say anything to you before she did this?" Stefan asked._

 _"Yes. She asked me to promise to not be angry with her."_

 _"What?! What the hell does that even mean?" Caroline dashed into Bonnie's bathroom only to return with a dampened washcloth. She laid the cloth across the witch's forehead._

 _"Oh of course! Why didn't I think of that?! A wet cloth is just thing we need to revive her," Klaus snapped._

 _"At least she's trying to do something besides just standing around staring at Bonnie. Why_ _are_ _we just standing around staring at Bonnie? Isn't there someone we can call? Those witches in New Orleans?"_

 _Klaus' brow furrowed in thought. She'd been acting strangely at breakfast and even more so when he'd found her moments ago. She said she had something on her mind. Something he couldn't help her with, but what could have possessed her to..._

 _The spirits._

 _"We're going to leave her as she is," he announced, his voice cutting through the back and forth Caroline and Stefan were currently engaged._

 _"Are you insane?! We can't leave that thing inside her," the blonde argued._

 _"We can and we will...for now."_

 _"What makes you so sure that's the right move?" Stefan asked._

 _"Bonnie has a direct line to the spirits," He reminded them. "They can and often do provide her with inspiration at any given moment."_

 _That got Caroline's attention. "You think they told her to do this?"_

 _"Bonnie's mortal. The blade entering her body alone should have killed her. And yet she lives," Klaus pointed out, motioning to the witch whose chest rose and fell with each breath._

 _"Also, the blade can be difficult to extract, but it's never been impossible before now. No...they want that blade in her for a reason." He was certain of it now that he'd said it. He may not know the reason behind this action, but he did know that the spirits wouldn't empower Bonnie and show her the way to defeat Bob only to condemn her to perpetual suffering before the deed was done._

 _And while he was certain that Bonnie harbored some rather delightfully masochistic tendencies, she wouldn't put herself through something like this for kicks._

 _"We will leave her be," he said, firmly._

 _"For how long?" Caroline asked, worriedly._

 _"Until she and her non-corporeal partners in crime finish doing whatever it is they're doing."_

 _The blonde vampire was already shaking her head. "No._ _No_ _. You may be ok with this,_ _but I'm not_ _. If you can't get that damn thing out then we're going to find someone who can!"_

 _Klaus rounded on both of them. "How exactly has thoughtless action benefited either of you?_ _Any of you_ _? There are an abundance of examples of that tactic leading not only to disaster, but a mountain for suffering for Bonnie._

 _Stefan was reminded of a coin toss and the look on Bonnie's face when she realized she'd been betrayed. He'd been the one to rope her and her mother into opening Esther's casket in the first place. And at the first sign of perceived danger to Elena, he'd allowed his feelings for her to not only overshadow reason, but his already tenuous friendship with Bonnie. If he had only talked to her; told her of Elena's foolishness and the resulting threat from Elijah, she may have found another way...a better way. But rather than take the time to consider that, he and Damon acted; committing what he considered one of their greatest crimes against her._

 _"I think he's right," Stefan said quietly._

 _"What?" Caroline turned toward the vampire._

 _"He's right. Bonnie wouldn't do this unless there was a reason. For all we know, taking that thing out might do her more harm than good."_

 _Caroline stared and them both. She knew they had a point. Of course she did. But the idea that Bonnie may be hurting and they weren't going to do anything about it made her feel sick to her stomach. She sighed heavily in resignation before growling out her frustration._

 _Stefan slid an arm around her shoulder and kissed her temple. "Klaus is with her. You help me unload the truck and for all we know, she might be back before we're done" he said, ushering her toward the door._

That had been five hours ago.

Now Klaus sat on Bonnie's couch waiting for some sign from the witch. Some sign that he wasn't being foolish by waiting. _Damn the spirits_. And damn green-eyed witches who act recklessly with what he cherishes. When she awakened, he would unleash his ire at her rashness, lecture her on her carelessness and how it could have doomed them all, rage at her for not talking to him about it…anything to get his body to stop feeling like he was having a coronary.

His wolf was restless and irritable. It hadn't taken him long to realize that the warmth that bloomed in his chest when the witch was near; the preternatural awareness of where she was and how she was feeling, was the result of a bond his wolf had begun to form with the witch weeks ago. He hadn't spoken to her of it; unsure if she was even aware of its existence. And yet since the night he first kissed her, he'd felt that bond growing stronger…solidifying.

And yet now…as the darkness of Tunde's blade had its way with her, the bond felt muffled… _smothered_. It made the witch feel distant. He attempted to enter her mind; to make contact with her. But his effort resulted in him being slammed back into his own mind with such ferocity that it made his ears ring.

To be so far removed from her was maddening. The desire to lash out nearly overwhelming with the need to do _something_ to bring her back and force her to stop giving him a preview of life without her.

Unfortunately, he would not indulge that feeling for fear of making matters worse. No…now called for the patience that came with having lived through a millennia's worth of the unexpected.

"Any change?" Caroline asked from the doorway, holding two glasses. They'd finished unloading the truck and now Stefan had taken Celeste with him to pick up dinner.

"Unfortunately, no."

The vampire came to sit on the couch with him, passing him a glass partially filled with blood.

They were silent for a few moments. The only sound in the room coming from the slow steady beat of Bonnie's heart.

"Do you really think the spirits are behind this? And if so… _why now_?" Caroline asked.

Klaus nodded slowly, "Two thousand years ago the spirits began telling the women of Bonnie's line to set aside a portion of their magic. Magic that was eventually claimed by Bonnie in her hour of need. If the spirits are adept at one thing…it's the long game. There is a reason for this," he said firmly.

Caroline nodded before going quiet again.

"You're going to kill her when she wakes up, aren't you?"

"Absolutely," he gritted out.

"I don't think murder is in the mating rule book," Caroline pointed out. "Stefan told me what you said about that," She explained in answer to his raised eyebrows.

"Did he know?" Klaus asked dryly. "And is now the time you question my interest in her?" he said, smiling as he sipped his drink.

Caroline shrugged. "Not really. Bonnie's an adult. And she hasn't been anywhere near as reckless with her personal life as the rest of us. She's knows who and what you are and she cares for you anyway. Who am I to question it?"

"Well there is the matter of a certain vow I once made to you," he pointed out.

The blonde chuckled, "You didn't think I was going to hold you to that, did you?"

"It was sincerely given at the time." And it was. Although he'd wanted Caroline for his own, he could see the potential damage in continuing his attempts to tear her away for Lockwood. Tyler was her first love and disrupting that experience for her would not have served him well in his pursuit.

"Oh I'm sure it was. And it was certainly what every teenaged girl wants to hear someone say. But in the end…I paid more attention to what you _didn't_ say."

The hybrid frowned. "What I _didn't_ say?"

Caroline smiled, bemused. "You said, that you would be _my_ last love—which by the way wasn't something you could determine-but what you _didn't_ say, is that I would be _yours_."

"I didn't say that, did I?" He chuckled. He'd declared his intended position in her life. And yet it said nothing about her position in his. He couldn't say that he'd been in love with her at the time, but whether he intended it or not, his words revealed an awareness of others to come after her.

" _Nope, you didn't_. I mean, it's not like I wasn't attracted to you, I totally was-

"Naturally," Klaus smirked.

Caroline's eyes rolled. "It's just that what you were offering didn't fit me. It didn't fit the person I was and it didn't fit the person I wanted to be. You wanted someone to be your queen in your dysfunctional kingdom and I didn't want that. I just wanted to feel like a princess once in a while."

Klaus smiled ruefully at her words. She was right. But beyond that, he knew that neither of them were particularly shy when it came to going after what they truly wanted and after their interlude in the woods, it turned out that what they wanted, wasn't each other.

"I must say, you tastes have improved since Lockwood."

Tyler was my first epic love…Stefan's the love of my life. Before him, I always felt like I needed to be so many different things to people in order to get them to see me. But Stefan always gave me the space to be myself. To make mistakes and learn from them in my own way. He nurtured the person I was and supported the person I wanted to be. _How could I not fall in love with him?"_

Klaus nodded, thinking of Bonnie. In the relatively short time they'd been together, he'd seen the same in her. Unlike many, she never tried to change him. He'd revealed things to her he'd never revealed to anyone and she didn't judge him for it. Instead, she'd given him the space to draw his own conclusions about not only the choices he'd made but about his life and what form he wanted it to take. She'd accepted him. And she'd done so without diminishing herself in any way.

"So...is it Bonnie?" Caroline asked, interrupting his thoughts.

Klaus looked at her questioningly.

"Is _Bonnie_ your last love?"

He looked toward Bonnie's bed, taking in her petite form lying quietly. Her mortality had been a topic of discussion on more than one occasion over the past few weeks. She was resolved to it. _He was not_. And while he would never force immortality upon her, he was fully prepared to persuade her to consider it as a viable option and one that didn't require her to become a vampire.

Still, he knew that she could very well hold fast in her resolve. And while he shares her desire to make her of her life what she wanted in the relatively short time she has, he also worries about himself. For while he has no idea what form a life with the witch will take, he knows that it is the only form he wants.

And that knowledge is fueled by the part of him that wants to wrap itself around her and keep her safe. The part that needed her to understand that only did she belong to him; _he belonged to her_. The part that knows that should she pass from this world, he will long for her. Long for what was and long for what could have been.

Caroline's eyes widened at the hybrid's expression. " _Okay_ …don't answer that…I'm not the one that needs to hear it," she said, glancing over to Bonnie's bed. Her best friend had Klaus Mikaelson lock, stock and barrel and she probably didn't even realize it.

"Well," she continued, sighing. "This is certainly one way to get an invite to the wedding."

"Ah, yes. _The wedding_. June, Caroline… _Really_? Could you _be_ more cliché?" He asked smugly.

"It's not _cliché_ , it's traditional and it's what I want," the blonde huffed, standing. "But it's not going to happen if the maid-of-honor doesn't wake her bubble butt up."

"Cliché is a haunted house on cul du sac of traditional," Klaus returned, standing as well. "Nevertheless, I'm sure you'll inform me of your wedding registry."

Caroline moved to sit on the bed beside Bonnie. "Registry? Pfffft! You're paying for the honeymoon."

Klaus stood at the foot of the bed and crossed his arms. "Is that a fact?" he asked, dryly.

"I just gave you my blessing. The _least_ you can do is pay for the honeymoon."

"What are you doing?" the hybrid asked as he watched the blonde tuck her hair behind her ears and lean forward into the witch's face.

"Bonnie," she said, directly into the witch's face. "If you don't snap out of this right now I swear to God I will tell Klaus about that time when we were fourteen and you accidentally—"

Bonnie bolted upright. A strangled, horrified gasp bursting from her lips.

BKBKBKBK

She was dying. He could hear it in the faint yet pleasured moan that escaped her. It wasn't surprising. Her body bore the evidence of his feasting as he entered her again. The way the muscles in her creamy thighs struggled against exhaustion and tried to grip his body tightly to hers told him that she didn't mind her current predicament. Why would she? She was being thoroughly fucked. Did it matter that he was draining her dry in the process?

He lowered his head, smiling as his fangs pierced the soft flesh around her nipple. Her sweet blood seemed to burst into his mouth as his hips increased the rhythm of his thrusts inside her.

"Damon…" she cried, urging him on as best she could despite her rapidly faltering state.

He continued to feed at her breast; enjoying the way her nails clutched uselessly at his back, when he heard it.

A heartbeat.

Not the listless thump of the woman beneath him or the active patter of the dozen or so witches meeting on the first floor. No he knew this one. Had committed it to memory years ago.

He unfastened his lips from her breast and looked up towards the ceiling, his eyes trying to bore into the attic above him. _No way…_

Food and orgasm forgotten, he slid from her, smirking at her groan of protest before she lost consciousness. With any luck, she'd be dead before he got back.

Damon got to his feet and grabbed his robe. He exited his room and made his way to the small staircase that led to the attic of the Salvatore Boardinghouse and the source of that heartbeat.

BKBKBKBK

Bonnie grimaced in pain as she clutched desperately at her chest, struggling to take in large gulps of air.

"Holy shit, it worked!" Caroline cried.

"Don't be ridiculous," Klaus snapped joining them on the bed in a flash. "Bonnie—"

" _Get it out_ ," she whispered in a rush, her fingers trying to clutch at the end of the blade. When her fingers finally found purchase, she began to pull. Beads of sweat broke across her forehead as she struggled, gritting her teeth against her screams.

Klaus reached forward, brushing her hand aside, placing his own on the blade's hilt. He steeled himself against her cries.

"Ready?"

Bonnie nodded, hurriedly. She bit back her scream as she felt him pull the blade from her chest. The next moment, Caroline's wrist was pressed to her mouth as she tasted the vampire's blood.

She drank deeply, already beginning to feel the gaping hole in her chest closing. Once she'd gotten her fill, she moved away from her friend's wrist and began chanting a healing spell to finish the job. She collapsed, exhausted into the hybrid's arms.

"I'm sorry," she panted over and over again and she looked up into Klaus' eyes.

"Why did you do this, Bonnie?" he whispered harshly. He was still angry. But the relief of feeling their bond flaring to life after being dormant was winning out. He hugged her tightly to him.

"I…I don't know…the spirits…" Her voice trailed off as her unanswered questions slowly came into sharp relief. "No…no it can't be…oh my God…"

Klaus grasped her by the shoulders. "Full sentences, Bonnie," he demanded, gently.

Bonnie took in more gulps of air. " _The weapon_. The weapon that Bob's witches were looking for? The one they _found_? _It's Elena_." The realization like having a bucket of ice dumped on her.

"What?" Caroline asked, alarmed. "How?" She'd moved to bar and returned with a glass of water.

Bonnie drank it down in one gulp. "I don't know how, but they've got her," she panted.

"And that was reason enough to stab yourself with that godforsaken blade?" Klaus demanded.

The witch nodded, tiredly. "The dark magic…it was the only thing strong enough to get rid of it without killing us both."

" _Get rid of what_?" Klaus asked warily.

Though she wanted to scream in frustration, she tried to calm her breathing. She was failing in the attempt as raw panic tried to take over. The myriad of scenarios this situation now presented were beginning to play before her eyes. All of them potentially disastrous.

"The link…my link with Elena is _gone_. They got rid of it because Bob has Elena. And now…she's waking up…" Her voice hitched in fear.

BKBKBKBK

When Stefan and Celeste returned to the house bearing several boxes of pizza and beer, he did not expect to find Klaus, Caroline and Bonnie congregating in the kitchen.

Bonnie sat on the counter looking like hell warmed over. Her shirt torn and bloody from the blade's exit.

They filled him in on the information she'd received after having already contacted Tyler. The werewolf would go to the storage unit where Elena was being kept and confirm that she was missing.

"While it's unfortunate that she's being held hostage by our enemies, I fail to see why this is such cause of alarm," Klaus said, reaching for a slice of pizza. Petrova doppelgangers were a migraine he'd long become accustomed to.

Bonnie munched thoughtfully on one of her own. "The spirits removed the link because Bob has Elena. I think he wanted to find a way to get to me through the link. If he had…this might have been over before it even began." The reality of how close she'd been to the end without knowing it, unnerved her. But it was tempered by the fact that the spirits were willing to risk problems Elena presence would cause rather than permit Bob to have any form of access to Bonnie.

No one except Bonnie and Tyler knew of Elena's location. After Bob was released, they'd moved Elena to an obscure facility. Damon knew where she'd been and they feared he'd claim her and attempt to use her against them.

"They don't just have Elena," she said. They have human doppelganger Elena. Which means they now have access to at least nine pints of _human doppelganger blood_. Magically speaking…they've got uranium."

Klaus nodded, absorbing her words. Having spent the better part of his life searching for Petrova doppelgangers, he was well versed in the magical properties of their blood. But while he could appreciate the complications this presented from a strategic aspect; there was still a part of him that greeted the news of Bonnie no longer being bound to that bothersome Gilbert girl with a desire to pour salt on the floor do an elegant soft shoe.

"But _how_ did they find her?" Stefan asked, passing Bonnie a beer.

"They'd have needed a locator spell to do it. Which means they had to have crossed paths with Jeremy at some point." She knew that Jeremy would never betray them. But that didn't mean he wasn't still gullible enough to get suckered out of his own blood.

Bonnie chewed her lip. Even as solitaries, the possibilities were endless as far as what Bob's witches could do with that much blood.

"They won't kill her and they won't turn her," Bonnie announced. While a turned doppelganger's blood was powerful, the human variety was even more so. The question now was how they planned to use both it and Elena against them.

A laugh filled with bitterness erupted from her. _Of course_ this was the way things would go. As was the case with nearly every event in her life, Elena Gilbert was now inserted, throwing every into jeopardy. The foil to nearly every plan.

The concerned looks on those gathered made her laugh even harder. She couldn't help it. It was either that or scream out her frustrations until she brought the entire place down around their ears.

Bob had Damon, Enzo and now Elena. She would not allow him to have anyone else she loved. And so she would laugh until she felt strong enough to back up that claim. Then…then they would go to work.

BKBKBKBK

Her eyes opened, whiskey colored orbs trying to focus on the face hovering above her own. When her vision sharpened, she instantly recognized the chiseled features, the raven black hair and the most startlingly blue eyes she'd ever seen. It was as if he'd been carved out of marble… _cold and perfect_. And yet she knew the warmth that lay within.

"Damon…" she whispered as her mind started to orient itself. _Kai's spell…a magical link with Bonnie…she wouldn't wake until her best friend…_

"Hey gorgeous," Damon said, smiling down at her. Once he heard the telltale signs of Elena waking up, he'd opened her casket and deposited her in Stefan's old room. It had taken several hours but she was now staring up at him with the doe-eyed expression she was known for.

Elena glanced over Damon's shoulder. There was a man she didn't recognize and…

" _Enzo_ …what's Enzo doing her? Where's Stefan…Caroline?"

Damon cupped her face with his hands and stared into her eyes until they dilated.

" _Elena, you need to listen to me," he said soothingly. "The world is different now. There is no Stefan…no Caroline…no Jeremy…they're all gone now. The only ones left are me and Enzo and all of our new friends. They're going to help us. They're going to help keep you safe. But we're going to need your help too…ok?_ "

One of Elena's hands landed lightly on his neck. "Damon… _of course_ …just tell me what happened. Tell me what you need me to do." The huskiness of her voice filled with concern.

Damon brought her face to his, kissing her deeply. "I need you to stay here, while I go and get you something to eat…ok? You and I have a lot to talk about."

Elena nodded, resettling among the pillows as she watched Damon usher the other two out of Stefan's room, closing the door behind him.

Damon, Enzo and Logan moved to the farthest end of the hall before speaking.

"How is she awake?" Enzo demanded in a harsh whisper.

"I don't know," Logan answered. The magical link between Elena Gilbert and the Bennett witch proved to be so sophisticated in nature, that he'd been hesitant to attempt manipulating it for fear of it backfiring and killing both doppelganger and witch. He'd also been hesitant in taking her blood, unsure of how doing so might adversely affect the link. Now that the link was gone…Their master's potential shortcut to the witch was cut off. But on the bright side, there wasn't anything between them and the harvesting of the doppelganger's blood.

"As soon as she's gotten a couple of meals in her, I'm going to want to start working with her blood," Logan said.

Damon nodded, "Shouldn't be a problem. My hunny bunny has always been the giving sort," he said, smirking. "But _no drinking_. That goes for anyone with fangs. That doppelganger blood in there is spiked with the cure for vampirism," he reminded them as they descended the stairs. When he returned with her food, he'd begin round two of his compulsion.

"By the way…" he said, stopping them on the stairs. "Do either of you realize how much easier my life would have been if I'd just compelled her in the first place?" He snorted, shaking his head ruefully. Elena was no Katherine, but it would have been smart to have already had Katherine's gullible copy tucked away as a spare should things with his sire not pan out.

Hindsight…it is a bitch.

Enzo smiled, "Well Damon…Now's your chance. Make of her as you see fit. It is of no matter to me. Just make sure to keep the blood flowing."

A/N: Yes Elena Gilbert is in the building. BUT considering my general disdain for this character don't expect to see very much of her.

FF was acting wonky after the last update and so my ability to see any reviews was all jacked up for several days. But it's fixed now and I hope that none of them were lost because you guys were kinda trippin balls which I totally loved LOL!

Anyway, I did notice that there were comments of surprise at the way Caroline is handling the idea of Klonnie. That she wasn't jealous or judgmental. I could have gone that way, but I feel as though if I did, I'd be doing the exact same thing the writers of TVD and TO do with these characters. The reason this fic grew from being a sexy little one shot to a full fic is because I kinda wanted to give these characters the opportunity to stretch. One of the biggest problems I have with both shows is that the storylines that get thrown at them never seem to have a lasting impact. They never learn their lessons and nothing resonates for long. It's one of the reasons I doubt I'll ever be able to write a Bamon fic. Not because of the ship because I do ship it. It's just that what the writers have done with Damon over so many years...having him take 3 steps forward and twenty steps back...has kind of killed any inspiration for me with regard to him...which is a shame because he had so much potential. But the writers have been steadfast in only letting him grow so far that apathy regarding him has set in for me, unfortunately.

In the case of Caroline. I think it needs to be taken into account that Caroline has grown up as far as this fic is concerned. What happened between her and Klaus happened about 10 years ago and in that time she's fallen in love with Stefan, she lost her mom, she became a mom, she lived in a loveless relationship with Alaric and she had a career as far as what's canon. To have her go through all of that including the four years I've added in this story and not have her evolve doesn't feel truthful. To have her respond like she might have in high school feels like a disservice to her as a character and she's one of my favorite characters (second only to Bonnie) on TVD, much to my initial surprise.

Anyway I hope that kind of explains what I'm trying to do with this fic and why I've made the decisions I've made. And if you have any questions please feel free to ask as I appreciate the feedback. It helps me with making sure that the themes I'm trying to work with are coming across clearly. And thank you all so much for sticking with this fic. For my first time writing one, you guys have made it really enjoyable.

Cheers


	18. Bring Me To Life

**Bring Me to Life**

Bonnie sat on a wooden bench in her garden. Though the damage from removing the blade had been repaired, she was still running on fumes. The severing of Kai's spell had taken its toll. She needed to rest, and yet sleep alluded her.

"And what are you doing out here?" Klaus asked, appearing before her. After dinner, they'd discussed contingency plans in light of the doppelganger's current whereabouts. They decided to table the issue until tomorrow when he noticed the little energy the witch had beginning to wane. He'd ordered her to her room with the intention of joining her, but when he arrived, she was gone.

"I know I'm supposed to be resting," Bonnie said softly. "I just… _can't._ " She'd only been in the blade's grip a few hours, but even such a short time assured her that sleeping was the last thing she'd be able to do for a while.

Klaus looked down on the witch. She sat with her legs folded beneath her, her ridiculous house slippers lying on the ground. She looked weary, her eyes having lost their normal glint. The unconscious furrowing of her brow told him that she's was trying to sort something out… _again_.

He crouched down in front of her, "Why didn't you tell me what you planning to do, Bonnie?"

The witch smiled sadly, " _I wanted to_. But how was I going to make you understand something that I didn't understand myself? All I knew was that I needed to do it and I didn't know why until after it was done. I'm sorry I worried you."

"I'm certain you can make it up to me," the hybrid replied with a small smile. "In the meantime, I want you to talk to me, Bonnie. We've always been frank with one another—something I've enjoyed—and I will not have that change. I don't care if you can't explain it as well as you'd like, I still want to know."

Bonnie nodded, "I know…you're right."

"It's been quite a while since you've acknowledge that. I think I'd forgotten how much I like it," he teased.

"Don't get used to it," Bonnie chuckled.

Klaus reached out and took her small hand in his. " _Still_ , there is clearly something on your mind now and you say nothing...is it the blade?"

Bonnie nodded.

"As someone with firsthand knowledge, I know the ordeal that comes with being in its grasp."

The witch sighed. "That's the thing…aside from the pain of stabbing myself _and_ the pain of you pulling it out, what I felt in between…wasn't really what I expected. I mean I knew it was supposed to be painful but I used to be the Anchor, Nik. I felt the pain of supernatural deaths pass through me _for months_. Relatively speaking, the blade was an annoying itch."

"Then what's wrong? Why won't you rest?"

Bonnie hands clenched and unclenched. "I was awake the entire time. I couldn't see…couldn't hear…but I was awake. I could _feel_ things. I felt the magic of the blade working. I didn't know what was going on or why. But the thing that really scared me…was that I couldn't feel you. You were just... _gone_."

Klaus' eyes widened. " _You know about the bond_?"

" _I'm a witch_ , Nik. The last full moon was the first time I really noticed something going on. I wasn't sure of what it was…but it didn't worry me, it even seemed to make sense. Hell it could have been hormonal for all I knew."

"Finally admitting to being guided by our hormones, are we?" the hybrid asked, remembering their conversation of a few weeks ago.

Bonnie's eyes rolled. " _No_. I'm saying I knew it was there…I just didn't know what it was or why it was happening at first. But lately it's felt like it's been getting stronger. I can feel where you are. I can't read your mind or anything, but I can sense how you feel. Doesn't take a genius to figure out that we're forming some kind of bond."

"Blame my wolf. He appears to be the culprit," he said, smiling to himself as she absently began playing with his fingers.

"But your wolf is you," she pointed out gently.

"Then blame me," he said simply.

The witch nodded before her own smile faded, "When the blade was inside me I couldn't feel the bond. I couldn't feel _you_. And that was the source of any real pain."

Klaus straightened and came to sit beside her. He gathered the witch into the crook of his arm as he held her, his lips pressed against the softness of her hair.

"I didn't feel cut off from you," he began, "More like you were far away. Deep down and too far for me to reach." He'd wanted to tear apart something… _anything_ just to reach her. And even now that she was here in his arms, the memory of her feeling lost to him unnerved him.

"It was really quite bothersome." He said lightly, unwilling to dwell on what he would have done if he had actually lost her. The sharp elbow to his ribs made him chuckle as his harm tightened around the witch.

"I would never have you so far from me again," he said softly, sobering.

Bonnie snaked her arms around the hybrid's waist and squeezed, enjoying the way they melded together, drawing on the warm he provided.

"However," He continued. "I can't be unhappy with the end result. No longer being linked to Elena is a _good thing_."

"Is it?" Bonnie asked, sighing. "I haven't had a chance to be happy about it because she's with Bob and now he's got access to her blood. On one hand I'm _terrified_ for her. I mean, as complicated as things ended up between us, _I_ still think of her as family. I know how bad it could get for her with them and _no one_ should have to go through that. But on the other hand… _I know that I can't save her_. Once upon a time I'd have offered myself up in exchange or gone out on my own to face him. I can't do that now. There's too much at stake. It's a fucking Kobayashi Maru," she explained, sadly.

"It's _what_?" The hybrid asked, confused.

"Note to self: Star Trek marathon," she muttered. "It's a military exercise," she explained. "A damaged civilian vessel is in enemy territory. If you don't save them, they'll die. But if you _try_ to save them, not only will you, your crew _and_ the civilians be killed, you'll have caused an all out war to break out."

"So what's the answer?"

" _There isn't one._ It's character test on how you deal with a no-win situation."

"And how are you dealing with it?"

Bonnie sighed again. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, right?. I just hate being the one to make that call. _I don't want to_."

"It's the drawback of being the quarterback, love," Klaus said gently. "The fact that this weighs so heavily on you is testament to your fitness for the role. _You're doing the right thing_. Accepting that is what will take time. Elena is your friend for good or ill and it isn't fair that yet another of your loved ones has been taken from you. But what _you've_ created here...what _we_ will do here...this evil will never be able to do this again. Focus on that and the rest will come."

Bonnie remained quiet, absorbing his words and the comfort they provided. She shifted again to lay more snugly against him. Klaus listened as after several moments, the witch's breathing slowed and evened as she slept.

 **BKBKBKBK**

"So what the hell are these?" Caroline asked, holding up a small metal box.

"Vervain bullets." Bonnie answered, taking the box from the vampire. "According to the Armory's records, they were working on synthesizing both vervain and wolfsbane into weaponized forms. Vampire gets shot with one of these and they're out for several hours. That case over there holds the grenades," she explained, pointed.

Bonnie hadn't been down to the Armory's armory in over a year. But considering their army would be arriving in days, they needed to do a full inventory.

Originally, the Armory's mandate had been the acquisition of dangerous supernatural items in order to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. That mandate then expanded to the acquisition of supernatural beings of note, herself being one of them.

However, their applied sciences department, from which their anti-magic serum, Celeste, and a good portion of their weapons hold derived, was created almost 20 years ago.

"Damn..." Caroline whispered, looking around. Hand guns, rifles, incendiary devices, body armor...the place was fully stocked with whatever the Armory's former tactical units needed.

"Yeah..." Bonnie agreed, "And this stuff isn't nearly as scary as some of the stuff in the archives upstairs. Now _that_ stuff might as well be out of a Hellraiser movie." The witch was already thinking about which of those they'd be able to use safely.

Caroline pursed her lips as she went about the room, making notes on her clipboard. They'd agreed last night that she would be in charge of logistics having experience wrangling large numbers of people and dispersing assignments. She'd spent the early part of the day working on grids for bed assignments, patrol duties, work schedules, etc. Klaus and Stefan would coordinate with Marcel and Chloe on constructing counter measures if and when Bob's forces breached the barrier. Bonnie would be with Vincent and the Nine Covens assessing the magical items available to them while also gathering the necessary materials for prison world spells as well as offensive and defensive spells.

It's was frightening how quickly things were beginning to come together. By this time next week, Bob could be at their door. The blonde looked up from her notes and observed the witch as she knelt before a large storage crate. She frowned when she saw the amount of tension in her friend's shoulders and the tightness of her jaw. Bonnie was stressed and with good reason. Between this new development with Elena, the gathering of their forces and finally fast approaching confrontation with Bob, it was a miracle that Bonnie hadn't cracked. Because while the witch had help, Caroline knew that Bonnie was still trying bear the weight of it all unaided and without an outlet. An old habit of hers that apparently hadn't died.

"So when are you two going to uh...?" Caroline asked, lightly.

Bonnie looked up from the crate in confusion. "What...Caroline!" she admonished watching the vampire wriggle her blonde eyebrows meaningfully.

"I'm not being nosy, Bon. I'm being concerned."

"Concerned," the witch repeated as she sat back on her heels. "About what?"

" _About you_. This place is going to be teeming with witches, werewolves and vampires within a matter of days. We've got a little over a week before the shit hits the fan. And since I'm in charge of logistics—which includes your schedule—I think we need to discuss bone times." The vampire explained as simply as if they were discussing wallpaper options.

"Oh my god…" Bonnie groaned, covering her face with her hands.

"Bonnie…" Caroline said, setting aside her clipboard. "This is a mental and physical health issue. You've been under a lot of pressure the last four years and it's about to get _worse_. Do you really want to head into Fight Night with only _you_ having kept _you_ company?" The vampire asked, pointedly. "It's in everyone's best interest that you let one rip."

The witch frowned, "That's a euphemism for flatulence, Care."

"Either way…better out than in, _Bon_."

Bonnie huffed, "It's not like I don't want to. _Good Lord I really want to_. But there never seems to be a right time. Either I'm stabbing myself in the chest or you two are walking in on us or Celeste is giving us both the stink eye." She reached into the storage crate, pulling out cases of wolfsbane grenades, praying that the blonde would drop the subject.

 _No such luck_. "Well…we're going to have to find a right time because the longer you put this off, the longer you'll need to recover."

Bonnie stared at the vampire quizzically. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Caroline shook her head in mild exasperation before crouch down in next to her "Bon," she began, seriously. "At some point— _hopefully_ in the near future—you are going to have sex with an over 1,000 year old supernatural. I don't think you realize the severity of your predicament."

"The severity of my—"

"I mean it's not your fault. The only notches on your belt are Jeremy and Enzo and anything you did with Jeremy automatically doesn't count."

" _Gee, thanks,"_ the witch said dryly.

"Let's be honest here, Bon. That boy looked like he wouldn't know the difference between a woman and a pin ball machine."

Bonnie pursed her lips, fighting off laughter. "If I remember correctly, _you_ were the one who encouraged me to go out with him in the first place." Bonnie pointed out, lightly.

" _I did_ ," the blonde agreed. "And now I'm trying to make for it. Because if you get wound any tighter, you're going to snap. And considering we're in a life or annihilation situation, I can't think of a better way to blow off steam, can you? I mean why do you think I'm as relaxed as I am?"

"That's just it, Care, I don't just want to blow off steam." Being intimate with Klaus had been one of the multitude of things at the forefront of her mind. Caroline was right. By and large, her experience with sexual intimacy hadn't been worth writing home about. Her times with Jeremy had been burdened with the fact that she was the Anchor and at any given moment she'd begin writhing in excruciating, mind numbing pain. Even the loss of her virginity had been tainted by it.

But it wasn't until Enzo that she realized just how mediocre her sex life had been. As it happened, Jeremy didn't know the difference between a woman and pinball machine. Whether it had been youth or self absorption, she didn't know. But Jeremy Gilbert seemed convinced that his prowess as a lover was dependent on his ability to pound away at her ceaselessly. _Every time_.

Which is why her first real orgasm came courtesy of Lorenzo St. John. He had been a skilled lover; adept in the fine art of foreplay and aware of the ebb and flow that came with lovemaking. He understood and respected the subtleties of a woman's body and never sought his own release until he was certain that she had achieved her own... _thoroughly_.

But because of his double life as a member of the Armory, They hadn't spent nearly as much time together as she would have liked. And while she loved him and understood his work with the organization kept her safe, the time she'd spent in his cabin felt a lot like her life growing up with her father always on the road. Except where he showed up bearing gifts and new increases in credit card limits to make up for his frequent absences. Enzo showed up with really great sex.

"You want it to be special," Caroline surmised, interrupting her thoughts.

Bonnie nodded. "I know it's silly...but I don't want my first time with Klaus to be centered around the fact that we all might die soon." She didn't want a bone schedule. She wanted that part of her relationship with the hybrid to develop just as organically as every other aspect of it.

"You are not being silly," Caroline said. "If you don't want to jump his bones because the world might be ending, that's fine. But at least be willing to set aside time to take care of yourself."

Bonnie glared at the vampire, picking up a double meaning.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Caroline laughed. "Although if that's what you wanted to do, it works too. I just mean that with everything going on, you're going to have to take time out. Self care can become a lost art if you're not paying attention. And I don't want you to end up feeling like you're required to put everyone else's needs before your own. If you can promise me that, I won't create a bone schedule," she promised.

Bonnie laughed, shaking her head. "Fine. I promise to practice self care. And when the moment is right, I promise to fuck Klaus' brains out."

Caroline give the witch a firm nod and a pat on the back before rising. " _Good girl_. That's all I'm asking."

 **BKBKBKBK**

Klaus stood outside, surveying the land before him. The property sat on an incline which was to their advantage. Another advantage was that despite the thickly wooded area surrounding most of the property, the only point of entry should the barrier be breached would be along the main road.

"If the barrier comes down, they're going to make a bee line for the main house," Stefan said, walking up to him.

"Indeed," Klaus nodded. They'll likely concentrate most of their forces on taking it." Between the items contained within and the ley pool beneath, the main house was a dangerous prize all on its own. "We'll need to hold them back while at the same time allowing a window of access to Bonnie." The hybrid ground his teeth at the thought.

While he'd never encountered Bob himself, Klaus knew plenty about power and conquest. Bob would not lie in wait, sending his forces to do the work for him. No, he would insist on claiming Bonnie himself. Which meant that while in the heat of battle, they would need to identify the vessel he was housed in—most likely Enzo—and allow him to break through their line to meet her.

"Bonnie's going to be set up behind the main house. We need to make sure he can find her back there." Stefan pointed out.

"He'll find her. The lure of the ley pool is how Ayanna was able to trap him. With as much magic as Bonnie'll be churning up, he'll sniff her out immediately. And when he does, it will be up to her to get that spell off in time."

Stefan was uneasy. The plan was both sound and risky. "You think she can pull this off?"

Klaus sighed. "I'm learning that the better question is what _can't_ she pull off, when set to purpose?" The amount of steel in the witch's spine was enough to bludgeon someone to death. It was one of her most admirable and most frustrating traits.

He smiled to himself, thinking of the witch when what felt like a mosquito bite registered on his left forearm. He even slapped at it in reflex—something he hadn't done since he was mortal.

Stefan looked at the now frowning hybrid. "What are you doing?"

Klaus pushed up his sleeve to bear his arm and froze at the sight.

Stefan's eyes narrowed, " _What the fuck is that?_ "

An image...a symbol appeared to slowly rise to the surface of Klaus' skin. Become darker and more visible with each passing second.

"I don't-" The hybrid doubled over in pain.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Caroline grabbed Bonnie and flashed up to Klaus' bedroom when she heard Stefan shouting.

Upon entering, they found Klaus lying on the bed with a broken neck.

Bonnie's eyes widened, "What did you do to him?"

"I had no choice. We were outside when this showed up on his arm," Stefan explained, revealing the symbol. "He doubled over and when I tried to help him, he tried to bite me."

Bonnie's heart sank upon seeing the symbol. She watched as it grew and stretched like vines across his skin, seeming to brand itself into him. She didn't recognize the symbol, but she did recognize the magic.

"They're trying to hex him," she said, her eyes darting back and forth from the hybrid's face to his arm.

"How can they do that? Does that mean they're here?" Caroline asked in alarm.

Bonnie shook her head slowly. _It was starting already_. "What's the one thing that both Klaus and Bob have?"

Both vampires stared at her blankly.

"Doppelganger blood. They're using Elena's blood to put a hex on Klaus." Esther used the doppelganger Tatia's blood to create her vampirism spell, becoming the binding agent that made Klaus' hybrid existence possible. _Elena was a descendant of Tatia_. A witch could absolutely use Elena's blood to locate both locate Klaus and hex him. Bonnie cursed herself for not realizing that sooner.

She lifted his arm and wondered about the witch behind the hex. Since it was forming relatively slowly, the witch in question had to have little experience with blood magic—especially magic using such powerful blood.

"Caroline can you go to my room and grab the grimoire with the jeweled cover, please?"

She laid a hand on his forehead. He was still out, but she could already feel that he was warmer than usual. If she didn't figure out the symbol blooming on his arm, he'd awaken and they wouldn't know what he was being spelled to do.

Caroline returned with the book in her hands. Bonnie took it from her and began flipping through the pages quickly.

"Why him? How do they even know that he's here?" Stefan asked,

"I'm guessing Damon figured it out when he came here." Bonnie murmured, her eyes scanning each page rapidly. "They might think he had something to do with them losing a foothold in New Orleans. Either way, they want him to do something. We just have to figure out what it is." Her eyes stopped on a page bearing the symbol.

"What does it say?" Caroline asked.

"Back in the 1600s there was some kind of war among several covens across Europe. One coven in particular used this symbol to force vampires to do their bidding. It afflicts vampires with an unquenchable thirst...for witch blood."

"So when he wakes up-" Stefan began.

"He's going to want witch on the menu," Bonnie finished, setting the book aside.

"But that doesn't make sense. _Why_ would they want him to kill you?" Caroline asked.

"I don't think they do," the witch said, her eyes on the unconscious hybrid again. "I think they want _me_ to kill _him_."

"Why?" Stefan asked

"Because if they can use Elena's blood to get to Klaus, then I might be able to use Klaus' blood to get to Elena." The witch responsible for this hex was clever, no doubt. And had Bonnie been any other witch, she might have fallen into the trap and eliminated an advantage out of fright. It was exactly what she would have done back when she was too young to know any better. But now...

"So what are you going to do?" Caroline.

"Well what I'm not going to do is kill him. The hex isn't fully set yet so there's still time to fix-"

Klaus arm shot up and grabbed Bonnie by her throat. Caroline and Stefan rushed forward to stop him only to each be thrown across the room by his other arm. The hybrid yanked Bonnie downward onto the bed and straddled her. His teeth were bared, his eyes unrecognizable as he snarled at her.

Dazed, Bonnie's vision cleared in time to see Klaus' fangs coming down toward her neck, ready to tear her throat out.

"Nik!" She screamed into his face.

The hybrid stopped, inches from her neck and glared at her. His face a mixture of rage and confusion.

"It's me, Nik..." The witch panted. "It's me..." She watched as recognition began to dawn on the hybrid's face.

He snatched his hand from her as though he'd been burned. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Caroline and Stefan getting to their feet. He looked at the witch beneath him. _He knew her_. This was Bonnie. _His Bonnie_. And yet...

"What is happening?" He whispered.

"It's a hex, Nik," the witch breathed. "They're trying to put a hex on you."

Klaus climbed off the witch, absorbing her words. _A hex._ He knew all too well the outcome of those. Knew them well enough to know that she was in danger.

"Get out." He said, his voice low.

Bonnie sat up, massaging her throat. Klaus could see the bruises already beginning to form as both horror and guilt twisted his insides.

"It's ok, Nik. We can fix this. You just have to-"

" _Get out, Bonnie_." His voice was dangerous low.

Bonnie felt Stefan's hands on her shoulders, drawing her from the bed as Caroline picked up the grimoire which had fallen in the tussle. "Let's get you of here, Bon."

"But-"

"We'll come back when we have a solution. But for right now, you can't be in here with him. And you need to make sure that he can't get out. He led her to the door, her eyes still on Klaus. The hybrid had moved to the farthest corner of the room from her, pressing his back against the wall. His eyes were unreadable.

The moment she was through the doorway, Bonnie murmured a barrier spell.

As soon as they reached the staircase, they heard him. Like a wild frustrated beast trapped in a cage he raged.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Bonnie stood outside of Klaus' bedroom. After enough digging, she'd found a counter-spell strong enough for the hex. And after far too much time arguing with Caroline and Stefan about it, she found herself at the hybrid's doorway, praying that he wouldn't refuse her.

"I found a counter-spell," she began. "It's actually pretty easy all things considered."

"When has anything ever been easy, little witch?" His room was in shambles. Most of the furniture had been broken, the curtains and bedding ripped to shreds. He'd punched several holes into the walls and now simply sat hunched over at the foot of his bed.

"You've got a point. But, there's first time for everything, right? It's just one little spell I have to recite."

The hybrid's eyes narrowed, "What's the catch, Bonnie?"

Bonnie inhaled deeply. "You need witch blood that's been charged by the counter-spell. A lot of witch blood, actually. And since I'm the only witch around..."

"No," Klaus said, his voice firm.

Bonnie dropped the barrier and entered his room.

"Nik…" she began, taking a step.

" _Don't_ come any closer, Bonnie." He could feel the hex beginning to work in earnest. A hunger was building within him. _He was starving_. His throat was dry and his gums ached as his senses focused on the witch standing at his door.

The scent of her blood wafted over to him and he felt the black sclera forming around his eyes again. He'd only tasted her blood once before, when she'd linked himself and the Salvatores to her in their effort to desiccate Saltzman. It had only been the tiniest sip, but the taste lingered on his tongue long after; the magic within it undeniable. She had been a tasty morsel then, but now she was leagues more powerful and so _ripe_ with it. He wanted to feel her in his hands and feel her soft flesh break beneath his fangs. He wanted her warm, sweet blood filling his mouth, coursing down his throat…nurturing him…strengthening him…

"Look, the sooner we do this, the sooner things can get back to what we laughingly refer to as normal." The witch was saying.

"We won't be doing anything." He gritted out.

Bonnie frowned. "Don't do this. You need my blood."

Her confused alarm was making her heart pound, sending her blood pumping through her veins at a furious pace. Klaus bit back a groan as her scent grew stronger around him. He curled his hands into the mattress in hopes of anchoring himself to the bed. If his hands remained empty he would grab her…tear her…

Klaus shook his head to drive the thoughts from mind. "I won't drink from you, Bonnie. You need to leave."

"Why not? Where is this coming from?" Bonnie could see him struggling as he sat. A sheen of sweat had broken out across his brow and she could see the tremor in his arms and shoulders as he held himself in place. "You're not going to hurt me, Nik."

"There is very little guarantee of that," he bit out. "I know of hexes similar to this. Kol fought it with everything he had and yet he still drained Davina dry. And now you tell me that I need to drink from you…and I'm not certain I'll be able to stop."

"That spell was powered by the ancestors of the Nine Covens. This one's powered by a two bit solitary with some doppelganger blood. Nik, you won't—"

" _You don't know that._ "

" _I do_. I know you and-"

"And _I_ know that Marcel is right," he snapped. "Too many have died for my sake. _I will not risk you._ I will not use you as I have so many others. Desiccate me if you must, but I will not do this."

It was becoming difficult to look at her. Everything about her called to his hunger. He felt his insides twist and a dull cramping begin to assert itself. _Hunger pangs_. He hadn't felt anything remotely like them since before he was turned. The sound of her heartbeat was beginning to pound in his ears drowning out her voice. _He needed to feed_. He needed to rip her apart-

Her hand grazing his shoulder snapped him out of it. The next instant her wrists were trapped in his hands. _How had she managed to get so close?_ He wanted to fling her away from him but now that she was in his grasp, he couldn't let her go. Her green eyes stared at him, her gaze unwavering.

"Nik, please listen to me-"

" _You are treading on very thin ice, witch_."

"I know and I don't care. Those assholes have already taken three of the most important people in my life. I can't let them take you too. _I won't_." His grip on her wrists as firm but she was still able to lay fingers along his jawline.

"I know you don't trust yourself right now and you don't have to. Just... _trust me_...or better yet, trust our bond. I don't believe it formed just to fall apart like this. I believe its stronger than that. I believe _we're_ stronger than that." She lowered herself to her knees, settling herself between his legs.

"I want to do this for you and you need to let me because I can't.. _.I can't lose this_..." Her eyes pleaded with him to understand that she knew the risks; that she knew she was even being selfish. But that she'd lost too much...too many things... _too many people_ ripped away by forces beyond her control. But _this_ she could stop if he'd just give in.

It was _maddening_. As selfish a life as Niklaus Mikaelson had led over the centuries, he chooses _now_ to try and buck the trend. The fact that he was doing it for her sake only made it worse; made her desperate to save someone she'd already accepted as meaning more to her than she could have ever foreseen.

He watched as fat tears slid down her cheeks. The bond between them flared painfully, slicing briefly through the fog of his hunger. _She was frightened_. For him and for herself. And that fear was pouring through the bond, triggering a need he'd been cultivating from the moment she told him that Bob had her in his sights: _The need to protect her_.

"I'm trying to protect you, Bonnie. Don't you see that?"

"I _do_ see it. And I can't tell you _how much_ that means to me. But I don't need protection from you. _I need you_. So much that I'm asking you do something I've never asked... _never wanted_ anyone to do before. _Drink from me, Nik...please..._ " Her voice broke as she felt his grip on her loosen slightly and he leaned forward, his forehead pressed against hers.

"Bonnie-"

"It'll be ok..." She whispered "I know it will..." She was able to gently pull her wrists from his hold, bringing her hands up to cup both sides of his face. The pads of her thumbs rubbed across the pulsating veins beneath his eyes. She pulled his head down towards her until his lips touched her neck and held him there.

He felt her pulse throbbing against him. The urge bury this fangs into her delicate neck was so powerful that forcing it down made him grunt from the effort. She whispered over and over that it would be ok and he found himself needing to believe her.

Bonnie felt his lips move along her neck, praying that he would relent. When she felt him plant a kiss on her pulse point, she wrapped her arms around him and tilted her head, exposing her neck further.

She felt his fangs graze across her skin before feeling the sharp sting as they broke through. She called upon her magic and began chanting the counter-spell as he drank. His hands were on her, pulling her up gently until he'd maneuvered her onto the ruin that was his bed.

The small sampling from so many years ago was nothing compared to the liquid fire that filled his mouth with each gulp. It's potency nearly knocked him to his knees, lighting up every part of him. He heard her whispering the spell over and over as he drank, charging her blood with it.

One of her hands came up, her fingers disappearing into his curls. She remembered the night Damon tore into her throat and changed the world around her forever. She remembered the night Esther used her to complete Alaric's transition.

Neither of them had felt this... _good_. She didn't know if it was the bond, or the spell or the fact that this was being done by someone who didn't want to hurt her, but good lord...every erogenous zone in her body sparked as he drank her blood. Each pull was felt deeply within her core. She was aware that a vampire bite could be pleasurable, but after Damon and then Alaric, she'd never wanted a vampire's mouth that close to her ever again.

Of course that changed with Enzo. But even then, she'd never offered. She knew that a blood exchange was something he wanted to experience with her, but he never pressed her on it and for that she would always be grateful to him. He'd respected the fact that though she loved him...though she trusted him, the trauma from her previous experiences left her unwilling to be that vulnerable.

And yet here she was, offering up that vulnerability to the hybrid in her arms. Who would have guessed that a trip to New Orleans would have led to this?

Klaus could feel Bonnie's blood working its way through him as he felt more and more himself with each passing moment. The burning sensation that engulfed his arm was beginning to dissipate.

Her blood was as intoxicating as she was and the urge to finish every drop was strong. But the moment he felt the presence of the bond begin to dim. The moment he felt her begin to drift away he was reminded of the long hours he'd waited while Tunde's blade sat lodged in her chest. He remembered swearing that he would never have her so far from him again.

He raised his head from her neck before tearing into his wrist and pressing it to her lips. He felt her tongue lap lightly at the wound before beginning to drink in earnest. Her eyes opened and verdant orbs gazed at him. He felt her relief and her exhaustion through the bond. But beyond that, there was a depth of feeling she poured into the bond despite her weakened state. Emotions felt so keenly, he took a sharp intake of breath at their impact as her blood echoed an affirmation within him.

Bonnie tried to turn her face from Klaus' wrist only to have the hybrid coax her into drinking a bit more. She obliged him for a few moments before he finally removed his wrist from her mouth.

She was exhausted but her strength was returning albeit slowly. It didn't matter. All that mattered in that moment was that he was healed, she was alive and the torrent she felt building within him through the bond nearly took her breath away.

She watched sleepily as he lowered his head, his lips brushing hers. And as slumber finally claimed her, she heard the words he whispered.

 _"I love you."_

 _A/N: I am soooo sorry it took so long to get this up. An accreditation team had a site visit all last week at work and these mofos expected me to do actual work when I would have much rather been writing this. Plus I've been watching in stunned fascination the shitshow that is the American political system at work._

 _I have to say WOW I really appreciated everyone's feedback from the last update! This update is long and a bit of a maintenance chapter and I know I've been told not to apologize for length but I feel the need to do it anyway. Mostly because I never want a chapter to feel long if that makes any sense._

 _I also wanted to point out that the last section of this chapter is an homage to my favorite drabble from Anastasia-G's Summer Lovin series. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend that you do because each of them are awesome but the one the final section was inspired by is my absolute fave._

 _Oh and kpmindc- As far as Klonnie getting a chance to do the yum yum bouncy bounce...This fic doesn't have an M rating for nothing, I promise LOL. There were just a few benchmarks I needed Klonnie (both separately and as an item) to hit before they go there...but they are DEFINITELY going there...like soon. Ya feel me?_

 _Anyway, thank you so much for taking an interest in this fic. I promise that the next update won't take nearly as long to post._


	19. The Night Off

**The Night Off**

Bonnie's eyes slowly opened and adjusted to the dimness of the room. She was in her bed, but how did she get here? She stretched languidly as she began to remember the events of earlier in the day.

 _The hex...the counter-spell...blood…_

She sat up instantly, her eyes wide. She reached to turn on her beside lamp only to discover a folded note resting on her nightstand. She picked it up, her eyes scanning the paper:

 _Caroline left clothing out for you._  
 _You already know the location of your shower._  
 _I'm downstairs._

 _N._

Bonnie smiled, remembering she'd left Klaus a very similar note his first day there. It seemed like ages ago. At the time she'd written it, she'd been preparing herself for the very real possibility that she would have to kill him if he refused to help her defeat Bob.

 _So what very real possibility was Klaus preparing himself for?_

The witch scrambled from her bed.

She didn't know what was going on, but her heart started to flutter as she finally dashed off to her shower.

The hot water beat down on her skin, easing tension in her muscles she hadn't been aware of until now. It lulled her thoughts. Dispersed and re-molded them into one clear statement:

 _He loves me._

His blood was still in her system and she felt it warm at the memory. He'd said the words. _She'd heard them_. It wasn't a hallucination due to blood loss, she was certain of it. And the acceptance of them made her heart feel as light as a feather in a breeze. She accepted the fact that she was falling in love with him the night they first kissed, but the reality of having those feelings not only reciprocated but expressed…

She smiled to herself as she lathered up her hands with shampoo.

BKBKBKBK

Klaus looked up as he heard the witch's light step on the stair case. After she'd fallen asleep, he carried her to her room to allow her to rest. Her blood still burned in his veins, reminding him of her words. _She needed him_. She trusted him. She believed in their bond. The emotions she poured into it as he drank from her rocked him to his core.

He turned to greet her when she entered the dining room. Her eyes were wide with curiosity. The dress Caroline selected was as deceptively simple as the witch herself. The green of the delicate fabric matched Bonnie's eyes. The thin straps and mid-thigh length leaving her beautifully bronzed skin on display. Though the garment wasn't form fitting, it accentuated the smallness of her waist and followed the gentle flaring of her hips. Long, shapely legs beckoned to him as his eyes roamed.

"Think of her and she appears," he mused, extending his hand.

Bonnie could feel herself blushing at the hybrid's perusal. His blue eyes had darkened and she'd felt them on her as tangibly as a caress. The thought of his hands following their path made her warmed her skin.

"Where are Caroline and Stefan?" She asked as she moved towards him, taking his hand. She smiled at the way it enveloped her own.

"I sent them away," Klaus said, simply.

Bonnie frowned in confusion. " _Away_? Away where?"

"I never bothered to find out," he shrugged. "But they will return in the morning. As for that horrendous beast of yours, she is outside most likely traumatizing poor woodland creatures."

Bonnie stared up at him in disbelief. "So everybody's just… _gone_?"

Klaus smiled. " _Indeed_. You see in light of self-inflicted stab wounds, the breaking of nonsensical bonds, hexes, near fatal blood exchanges and _you_ finally acknowledging what a marvelous catch _I_ am…" He chuckled at her indignant gasp. "I thought we all deserved the night off."

Bonnie blinked. " _The night off_? Now what on earth would we do with one of those?" she asked, coyly.

Still holding her hand, his index finger nudged her chin up. "Whatever we want, little witch."

His eyes broke contact with hers and he released her hand when he felt her push up his sleeve. She inspected his forearm carefully.

"The mark disappeared completely two hours ago," Klaus explained. " _All better_."

Bonnie lowered her head and placed a light kiss on his arm, before smiling up at him. His eyebrows raised in charmed curiosity.

"It's something my Grams used to do," the witch explained. "Nothing was officially _all better_ until it got a kiss."

"Sound reasoning. Although in your case, I suspect there are other places your kiss would be more effective, love".

Bonnie grinned as she stepped into his body. Even though she wore the strappy heels Caroline set out for her, she still needed to lay her palms on his chest and raise herself up to her tiptoes in order to reach his lips with her own. She intended it to be a simple peck, but hummed happily as it deepened; his arm sliding around her waist and pressing her against him. Butterflies took flight within her as she curled her fingers into the fabric of his shirt.

Klaus reluctantly drew his lips from her before dropping a quick kiss on her now pouting mouth. "You haven't eaten since morning." He steered her around and guided her toward the table. "While I reassembled my room, Caroline and Stefan made dinner. And for the record, neither Bob nor any subject related to him is up for discussion. Understand?" His tone brooked no argument.

The witch nodded her assent and was rewarded with another quick kiss.

"Good. _Now_ …let's get you fed."

BKBKBKBK

Bonnie sighed happily, her belly full. "I didn't know Stefan knew how to make Osso Bucco. What is it with you vampire types and your culinary skills?"

Klaus shrugged. "Immortality demands we find new ways to occupy our time. And as we are still capable of appreciating human food, why not indulge?"

Bonnie nodded, "I've always wanted to learn, but I just never had time. I mean my Grams taught me how to make a few things, but I always wanted to learn more—increase my repertoire." She brought her wine glass to her lips.

"I can teach you if you'd like." He offered.

The witch eyed him warily. "I don't know. I question how much teaching or learning would actually get done with you involved." A smile played around her lips.

The hybrid snorted. "That is a valid concern. Although I promise to be on my best behavior a good thirty percent of the time."

"Now that would be impressive," she giggled. Her fingers glided along the lip of her glass.

"What else have you always wanted to do?" Klaus asked.

"Well recently I discovered that I want to sit you down for a Star Trek marathon," she teased.

The hybrid scoffed, "What on earth for?"

"Because Star Trek is a great franchise that spans decades, that's why. It provides social commentary on a lot of issues while speaking to the nature of humanity and hope for the future. Star Trek is a gem, Nik."

Klaus rolled his eyes. "The only gem in all of that nonsense is Grace Nichols."

Bonnie frowned, confused. "Grace…Don't you mean _Nichelle Nichols_?"

" _Grace_ is her real name," the hybrid smirked.

Bonnie's eyes widened, "You know Nichelle Nichols? So you _do_ know about the show?"

The hybrid scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. I never watched that drivel."

"Then how do you…" Her voice faltered as she gaped at the hybrid. "You didn't!"

Klaus' dimples were on full display.

"You did?" The witch was incredulous. " _When? How?_ "

"Before your beloved Star Trek, she toured as a singer in Duke Ellington's band in the early sixties," He said simply, amused by her reaction.

"You're kidding!" Bonnie gasped.

"We crossed paths later in the 70s and I believe the last time I saw her was 1984," he mused. His smile grew at the frown that was forming on the witch's face.

" _You_ …and Lt. Uhura… _multiple times._ "

"She's a very lovely woman, and her age has done nothing to alter that," Klaus said as Bonnie's frown deepened. "Are you jealous?" he teased.

"Well… _yes_." The witch huffed.

"Well you shouldn't be, love," the hybrid said "As I said, I've not seen her in over thirty years."

"I'm not jealous of her, I'm jealous of you," Bonnie groused. "You got to have sex with Lt. Uhura...such great legs…" she sighed wistfully.

Klaus laughed heartily.

"Alright…subject change," Bonnie ordered shaking herself out of her shock. "Let's change the subject before you tell me you slept with Eartha Kitt."

"Well now that you mention it—"

"Subject change!" The witch shouted, causing the hybrid to laugh ever harder. But his laughter was infectious and she could stop the grin that split her face.

"What else would you like to do?" Klaus asked finally, once they sobered.

Bonnie raised her eyes in thought, "Travel. I mean like _really_ travel. The only time I've been out of the country was when I chaperoned Damon and Alaric on their Pub Crawl of Doom. There really wasn't time to actually experience wherever we landed. So I'd want to travel…learn about different cultures…learn new languages." Her voice carried a whimsical lilt as she mused.

Klaus stared at her intently. "If that is what you want, then that is what you will have," he said.

Bonnie scoffed, "I didn't mean it like _that_. I mean you don't have to…I don't expect you to—"

"If you don't expect me to make certain that you want for nothing, well then—quite frankly—you need to raise your expectations," Klaus chided matter-of-factly.

Bonnie blinked rapidly, dumbfounded. _What do you say to something like that?_ "Oh…um…well…" She finally gave up on a full sentence and grabbed her wine glass, drinking deeply; her face hot.

She set her glass down. "Anyway…what about you? What do you want?"

Klaus brought his own glass to his lips, his eyes fixed on her. " _You_."

BKBKBKBK

"You know the last time we were in here alone, we got interrupted by Caroline and Stefan," Bonnie pointed out, standing in front of the fireplace.

"Something that will not be an issue now, thankfully," the hybrid said, coming up behind her. He turned her toward him, trapping her in his arms. She was rested and well fed and the results were obvious. The sparkle returned to her verdant orbs, the exhaustion was gone from her posture and she'd spent most of the evening laughing happily.

"Thank you for this," the witch said, seeming to read his thoughts. "I think I really needed it. I mean with everything going on-"

Klaus laid a fingertip across her lips, silencing her. "You're not to speak of _'everything going on'_ , remember?"

Bonnie nodded, " _I know_. I'm just saying…that it's nice. Not having to think about all of that for a little while and just... _be_. It reminds you of what you're fighting for, you know?"

"And what are you fighting for?"

The witch sighed. "Quiet evenings at home...cooking lessons...us..."

"Simple pleasures." Klaus surmised, brushing a lock of hair off her forehead.

Bonnie wrapped her arms around the hybrid's waist and stepped into his body, enjoying the feeling of being pressed against him. While she admittedly had a blind spot when it came to recognizing someone's desire for her, she'd was picking up Klaus' signals loud and clear. Smoldering eyes, wandering hands and a bond that all but throbbed with the direction of his thoughts, told her that Osso Bucco wasn't the only thing on the menu.

"Since you went through the trouble of putting your room back together, is your plan to invite me upstairs?" She tried to sound coy, but she couldn't keep the tremor of excitement out of her voice.

"No." The hybrid said simply.

Green eyes widened in surprise. " _No_?"

" _No_. My _plan…_ is to strip you bare and make love to you until sun up. _Where_ that happens is entirely incidental." The words were said lightly, but Bonnie swallowed hard at their impact.

" _Oh_...well...that's a _good_ plan," the witch stammered. It wasn't fair that a few words set her aflame and made her heart feel like it was about to burst from her chest and run up to his room, waiting for the rest of her to catch up.

Klaus smiled, enjoying the blush quickly spreading across the flustered witch's skin. "My plans usually are."

Bonnie let out a shaky breath. She'd been waiting for this moment. Hell she'd been _needing_ it. But now that it was here, Caroline's words from earlier came into sharp relief. "I've been told that I don't understand the severity of my predicament. Is that true? Am...am I in _trouble_?"

With the breathiness of her voice, her heart picking up speed and the way her eyes darted about nervously, Klaus was struck with the image of unsuspecting prey wandering into a wolf den.

There were layers to the witch that he was hungry to discover. Layers that could only be explored by vocal chords screamed raw, swollen and bruised lips and hot quivering flesh. He wanted to witness her locked in the unyielding grip of ecstasy. He wanted to taste the sweetness he knew awaited him between her thighs. He wanted her driven wild with her desire for him and sated by his desire for her. He wanted her to claw and scratch and bite...knowing that only he can provide the release she craves.

He wanted many things and he would have them all... _tonight_.

The hybrid lowered his head, ghosting his lips across hers-charmed by her sharp intake of breath at the action.

" _Absolutely_ , little witch," he confirmed, as his eyes already beginning to peel away any hope of keeping her wits about her as his smile became downright predatorial.

Bonnie swallowed hard. "Well," she said. "Good thing I never shy away from trouble." Her eyes closed when she felt his hand cup her cheek, his thumb tracing the curve of her lips.

"A good thing indeed," he replied, lowering his head.

When his lips touched hers, it was as if dam she'd charged long ago with holding back the magnitude of her passions- _her desires...her needs_ -was slowly breaking. Small cracks appearing in its foundation as the hybrid kissed her senseless as if daring her to let the damn thing fall and unleash what never should've been bound in the first place. She knew who and what he was and with that knowledge came the realization that he _could_ and _would_ take whatever she had to give.

She caught the fullness of his bottom lip between her teeth as she steepled her hands on both sides of his face. She held him there as her tongue began its own exploration of the hybrid's mouth. She tasted the wildness in him as it stirred the same in her and she felt her entire being come to life.

Klaus growled low in approval as his arms enfolded her small frame. She was the single tendril of smoke needing only a breath to burst into flame. He tasted her magic; felt it oscillating beneath her skin, sending out small sparks of power that seemed to race across his own.

He held her tightly, yet she managed to wriggle closer to him-feeling the length of him hardening against her. She felt his hands drift down and in the next instant she was off the ground, her legs wrapped around him as his hands gripped her ass.

She grunted softly when her back made contact with a nearby wall. Klaus drew his lips from hers and laid waste to her neck, licking and sucking on the delicate column; every moan and sigh inflaming him.

Bonnie's fingers grasped at his shirt in frustration. She needed to feel more of him. She needed to feel his skin beneath her hands. A light pulse of magic to her fingertips and she'd torn the offending item from him, the tattered remains falling to the floor. She clutched his shoulders, feeling the muscles moving as he ground himself against her.

They'd descended into urgency, each demanding more of the other. Klaus' hardened member strained against its confinement, wanting to seek out the refuge it knew awaited.

He kissed her hard once more before speeding them both upstairs.

BKBKBKBK

Bonnie barely had time to gasp in surprise before she was in his bedroom. A wave of her hand and every candle was alight, bathing them in a warm glow.

Klaus lowered her to the floor, enjoying the way she felt sliding against him along the way.

Bonnie looked down at her now bare feet and smirked. She'd apparently lost her shoes somewhere along the way. Her dress was still relatively in place, but she felt naked beneath the hybrid's heated gaze. Such scrutiny once would have caused her to withdraw, to shrink into herself and hide from prying eyes. Now, she stood tall.

And it's then that she realizes that she's always been at her boldest when he was involved. Even when they were enemies, she'd been bold enough to channel one hundred witches in order to destroy him. Bold enough to stop Jeremy's heart in order to desiccate him. Bold enough to defy the spirits by transferring his consciousness into Tyler. He didn't _make_ her bold, but the enormity of who and what he was brought it out of her in ways she was only beginning to understand.

She gazed at him as she he stood before her. His naturally unruly hair had been made more so by her fingers. His chest was bare as it rose and fell in deep controlled breaths. The flock of birds emblazoned on his shoulder seemed to undulate in flight. The candlelight made him appear golden. Like some other worldly being bearing an impish smile and dangerous eyes.

It's his eyes that catch her. The hunger, the passion, _the_ _love_ she sees in them that draws her in just as easily as the step she takes towards him. Her hands are on his stomach and she can feel his muscles contract beneath her fingertips. She finds it thrilling to be able to touch him like this. To touch him as though he were hers. And it's then that she has her second realization:

He _is_ hers and she is his and it really is just as simple as that.

"I'm pretty sure you've already figured it out," she began, her hands gliding upward to settle on his chest. "But I need to say it. _I need you to hear it_." She moves even closer to him, tilting her head up to look directly into his eyes.

"I love you, Nik," she said quietly.

The hybrid stilled. He'd been holding himself in check, curious to see what she would do. He knows she loves him. Even without the bond telegraphing her heart to him, he'd know it. She couldn't, _she wouldn't_ have done or said all that she had if she did not. Because her heart, the rare and fine thing he'd coveted, was also truest he'd ever seen. A gift she'd given, rather than a prize he'd won.

And yet her words cemented a mandate he'd already accepted. She'd placed her heart into his keeping; and keep it, _he would_.

He caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. "And I love you, Bonnie Bennett."

Bonnie closed her eyes and let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She smiled up at him, her eyes dancing.

"Well," she sighed, pressing her forehead to his. "Now that _that's_ out of the way…"

Klaus chuckled, capturing her lips. The fire they'd kindled downstairs needed very little to blaze again. His hands griped her hips, as he felt her blindly fumbling with his belt. Once free, she unfastened his pants and pushed them down while his own hands found the straps of her dress and peeled them off her shoulders. She stepped out of it once it pooled at her feet.

She was naked but for a tiny pair of black lace panties. Klaus' eyes gleamed gold at the sight and he was struck with the urge to bite her. Not to feed as a vampire, but to mark as a wolf. To claim her as his mate in the oldest of ways. He pushed the urge down, instinctively knowing that the time would come for such a deed. He instead stepped out of his pants, toeing off his boots.

Bonnie stared at the naked hybrid. While she had a relatively vague awareness that Klaus was of a size, she swallowed involuntarily at the sight of the thick, well-veined cock currently standing at attention. Her fingers itched to see if it was truly as granite-hard as it looked.

Klaus smirked at his witch's reaction. "And right now you're wondering what took you so long."

" _Actually…yeah_ …" she chuckled, nodding. The very thought of him inside her was setting off depth charges in her womb. She crooked her finger at him while walking backward slowly, her smile growing as the hybrid stalked after her.

When the edge of his bed stopped her, she sat down; using her hands to crawl backwards. She stopped when she felt the coolness of his pillows at her back.

Klaus followed, his body covering hers. Open mouthed kisses peppered her neck and shoulders as he held her down, his hardness pressed against her stomach. Bonnie's hands roamed, wanting to feel all within her reach.

One of the hybrid's hands wandered along her skin-lingering on the scar above her navel, tracing it with his fingertip. His hand continued upward, finding a full breast. He covered the fleshy mound, feeling the nipple harden against his palm and squeezed, drawing a honeyed moan from the witch. He lowered his head, his tongue teasing the nipple to even greater stiffness before he began to suck in earnest. He drew her into his mouth, his teeth grazing the delicate skin as he fondled her other breast. He hummed in approval when he felt her fingers in his hair holding him in place as she arched her body into him. The scent of her arousal—now imprinted on his brain—wafted towards him as he shifted his attention to her other breast.

Bonnie was burning. _She had to be_. How else to explain the heat coming off her skin, the thickness of the air around her, the molten pool forming in her core? She hissed at the biting pain of teeth on her nipple, only to moan a breathily earnest "fuck" when his tongue laved it away.

She slides her hands between their bodies, forcing him to raise up. He's about to nip her neck in complaint when he feels delicately soft hands wrap around his cock. His girth makes it difficult for her hands to completely encircle him, but her hold on him is exquisite as he begins to pump his hips; his eyes rolling closed at the feel of her warm hands sliding up and down his shaft.

His mouth leaves her breast only to find her lips again. They dissolve into a dance of sloppily exchanged kisses as she strokes him. Each pass between her palms sending tendrils of electricity racing through him. He indulges in her gentle ministrations a few moments more before removing her hands and trapping them above her head.

His other hand travels lightly across her face, down the valley between her breasts and past her navel; finding her lace covered mound. He kissed her hard upon feeling the dampness of the fabric.

As he slid his hand into her panties-fingers sliding along her folds—she sighed in blessed relief.

Klaus stroked her with a gentleness that belied his strength. Fingers caressing her folds and becoming slick as her hips begin to move on their own. They sink deeper into her softness, his thumb circling her tiny bundle of nerves.

Bonnie's hips are moving in earnest now, catching the rhythm his hand has set. She's writhing beneath him, unable to escape his hold as he watches the effects of his attentions play across her face. He slides a finger deep inside her, biting his lip at how hot and tight she is. He probes her, letting her body adjust to the small intrusion before inserting a second.

As he increases their pace, he watches as his witch becomes a chorus of broken sighs and eager moans, desperately seeking a release she knows is almost within reach. She's beginning to flutter around his fingers, her muscles gripping and releasing in equal measure. She's close; her breasts heaving, her core tightening. The fine sheen of perspiration makes her skin glow in the candlelight.

Klaus nuzzles her face, his coarse stubble grazing her skin and inflaming her further. He whispers in her ear coaxing her higher, faster. His gums itch as her heart pounds and her blood rushes. His mouth waters as the scent of her arousal permeates the air. His fingers are sliding in and out with ease as he plunges them deeper within her warmth. The fluttering around his fingers increases in strength and he knows that one little push will send her over.

His mouth is still close to her ear when he whispers, " _Come for me, Bonnie_."

The command in his voice is all she needs before her walls are clamping down on his fingers, her body undulating beautifully with her release.

He releases her hands only to find them gripping his face and Bonnie kissing him, still trembling. The hybrid pulls his coated fingers from her, breaking the kiss long enough for the witch to see him slide the digits into his mouth; his eyes closing as he sucks them clean. The sight sets off small aftershocks in her womb.

When he kisses her, she can taste herself on his tongue. She moans into it, her arms wrapping around the hybrid's broad shoulders. She's barely caught her breath before he's winding her up again, kissing his way down her body; his hands peeling off her panties as he goes.

She's naked and panting and spread open for him. And after having gotten a sample, he's now ready for a proper meal. Blue eyes bleed to gold as he lifts a dainty foot, placing a searing kiss on her ankle. He's kissing and biting her way up her legs, leaving neither neglected until his face is nuzzling her inner thighs. The moist heat of her calls to him and so he opens her thighs wide.

Bonnie's breath caught in her throat when she felt his tongue part her folds. Her entire body blushes when she hears the hybrid let out a deeply satisfied groan. She might have scooted away but for Klaus' arms being wrapped around her thighs, keeping her in place as he explored her.

Bonnie bit down hard on her bottom lip, unprepared for the wave of white hot pleasure that rushed through her. To say that Klaus had a skillful tongue would be an understatement as he flexed and curled and flattened it against her. He teased and prodded and pressed deeply; enjoying the incoherent cries that flowed from her as he feasted. He hummed against her when he felt her grab handfuls of his hair, imploring him to remain just as he was.

He released her thighs only to lift them higher; her knees pressed against her shoulders, allowing his tongue to plunge deeper into her opening. His full lips kiss and sucked at her; unwilling to relent.

For one wild moment Bonnie fears that he's pushing her to brink of sanity. That when the pressure he's building in her breaks, her grasp of reality will go right along with it.

He's sliding his fingers into her again. And when his tongue begins to pass across her clit-feather light and hummingbird swift-she's undone. She screams her release as she comes in his mouth, the hybrid greedily lapping up the fruits of his labor.

Bonnie is trembling violently as tide after tide rolls in, overloading her senses. "Oh my god," she pants. "Oh my god…Nik…"

The hybrid raises his head long enough for her to see that the lower half of his face is wet and glistening before his mouth is on her again, his fervor undissipated…

Several orgasms later and Bonnie is little more than a boneless quivering mess. Her throat is raw and tears leak out of eyes squeezed shut. Her body is incessantly tingling and she can't describe how she feels except to say that it feels like her whole body is breathing. Every pore, every follicle, every cell in her body is expanding and contracting; inhaling air and exhaling light. She feels weightless. Everything that weighs her down is gone because she can't think and she can barely speak.

Klaus crawls up her body, his lips finding her. She moans as even a touch that simple feels as though she's about the tugged back into the abyss. His fingers find her damp curls and massages her scalp, waiting for her eyes to open. When she does, he can't help but smile at his handiwork.

His lips ghost across her face. "Earlier," he whispered. "I told you that you will want for nothing. Tell me what you want, Bonnie." His words are soft but his eyes are fire. A conflagration of desire and tenacity.

Because she now understands how much she needs and how much she's been without; because she's always been the kind to shun limits; because this damned hybrid licked and sucked her sanity away an hour ago, she finds that she isn't surprised by the words that fall for her lips.

"Fuck me, Nik… _please_."

Klaus' eyes gleam as he centers himself between her thighs. He enters her slowly, giving her time to adjust to his girth. She's so tight that his eyes roll closed and grits his teeth against the sweet sensation. His hands find her hair again and he grips tight, his tongue entering her mouth. Bonnie wraps her legs around his waist as he begins to move, his strokes slow and deliberate. He curses in a language she doesn't understand as her walls squeeze and fondle him exquisitely.

The hybrid is as unprepared as the witch for the awareness that strikes them both. The bond between them is wide open, transmitting and receiving every sensation.

That her body fits him so perfectly is of no surprise. But in concert with the bond, he feels connected to her in a way he's never experienced in over 1,000 years of life. He feels her hands at his back, nails digging in and raking his skin. The wounds she inflicts sting and he has a vague notion of how unfortunate it is that his body is already healing. That she is unable to leave a scar; physical evidence of her need for him.

He braces a hand at the small of her back, lifting her hips higher, allowing him to sink deeper. Bonnie's head is thrown back, as she moans in tandem with his thrusts. The movement of her breasts draws his attention and her draws one into his mouth, biting and sucking as her thighs grip his sides tighter.

When Klaus sits back on his heels-bringing her with him until she's sitting upright on his thighs-Bonnie knows that she's lost. The torrent building in her feels so great that she fears the ground disappearing from beneath them. She fears that she will fall and keep falling unless she hangs on for dear life.

She clings to him as he takes control of her hips, moving her up and down on his cock; and Klaus feels her teeth sink into his shoulder just as her muscles tighten around him. Her hips take up their own urgent rhythm as she comes, screaming soundlessly. He follows soon after, pumping furiously into her still trembling body and coating her womb. He squeezes her tightly to him, shuddering through his release.

She was perfect. And they were only just beginning.

BKBKBKBK

Bonnie sat crossed legged on the bed and leaned back into the chest of the hybrid seated behind her. His arms came around and held her as his tongue sampled the dampened skin on her shoulder with open mouthed kisses. He burned a trail along her collar bone to her neck, sucking on the skin there until a gasp and turn of her head brought her mouth to his. He drank deeply, feeling a light growl rise in the back of his throat when she massaged his tongue with her own.

He cupped her left breast, his thumb circling the pert nipple lazily. Bonnie sighed at the sensation, her entire body still tingling from the waves of pleasure that had bombarded her body only moments ago. It was as if every part of her was alight and reverberating.

She drew her mouth from his when her lungs began to complain, taking in a gulp of much needed air. His lips found her neck again.

She reached behind her, losing her fingers in the damp curls at his neck and stifled a moan when she felt his other hand drift down between her still trembling thighs and begin to lightly stroke her tender flesh.

Klaus nuzzled and nibbled at her ear lobe; listening as her heartbeat began to calm. "Well…" he began, his voice low. "Now that's out of the way…" He smiled against her skin when an exhausted chuckle bubbled up from her. He pressed a quick kiss to her ear. " _Don't move_." The next moment he was gone, leaving her alone in his bed.

The witch sighed to herself as she ran her fingers through her tangle of damp curls. She felt… _new_. Her magic still whirred beneath her skin, ready burst through at any moment, but she'd never felt so languid. She glanced up at the sound of the hybrid returning.

Klaus smiled seeing the delightfully rumpled witch sitting in his bed, the sheets tangled about her naked form. Her skin glowed and her eyes gleamed with a lightness he would now connect to having love well made. If he had his way, not a day would go by where she did not appear as she did now; naked and carefree and cared for…unable to wipe the smile from her beautiful face.

Bonnie blushed at the sight of him naked, sauntering towards her. His quickly hardening cock bobbing with each step as he carried a wooden bowl in one hand and a bottle wine of in the other.

He passed her the bowl before resuming his place behind her.

"I think you forgot wine glasses," she said, reaching in and pulling out a plump blackberry. She popped it into her mouth as she watched him bring the bottle to his lips.

"I didn't." He murmured before taking a swig. He passed the bottle to her and reached into the bowl. His fingers never found purchase as his eyes followed a trickle of wine escaping the corner of the witch's mouth and streaming down her graceful neck, leaving his tongue no choice but to catch it and retrace its path to her mouth.

The bowl forgotten, his hands found her again, drawing her against his chest as he eagerly explored her mouth, committing to memory every moan and sigh he elicited from her. He gently removed the bottle from her hand before ending the kiss; leaving her breasts heaving and her thighs moist.

"This is your mild reprieve, little witch. Don't tempt me," he chided, retrieving a berry and feeding it to her before grabbing one of his own.

Bonnie took the bottle from his hand and drank deeply before kissing him, sharing the full bodied wine between them.

"I don't remember asking for a reprieve," she purred. She still had a considerable amount of his blood in her system. Were that not the case, she might not have the stamina to insist that he break her apart and put her back together. And so she floats the bowl to the nightstand while pushing the hybrid onto his back.

She smiles when his fingers dig into her hips as she eases herself onto his cock. She takes another swig from the bottle, gasping when Klaus sits up abruptly, his mouth set to catching all remnants on her skin. His hand is at her neck when she pushes him back down,

His hold on her neck tightens when she begins to move; her hips undulating slowly as she caresses the length of his arm. And as she rides him, her body already beginning to wind itself taut, she can't help but hope that morning never comes.

BKBKBKBK

The witch collapsed against his chest breathing heavily. He'd taken her twice more and only now could he see the early rays of dawn attempting to peek through his curtains. The witch was spent. Already she was beginning to curl herself into her favorite position next to him; half sprawled on him, her face buried in his neck. She sighed contentedly, pressing a kiss into his skin before falling still. His own eyes beginning to close, he held her closer; his supernatural hearing picking up the sound of Caroline and Stefan entering downstairs.

"Oh thank god!" He hears Caroline sigh in relief. "The place is still standing."

"I told you it would be," Stefan replies. "You owe me twenty bucks."

 _A/N: So...um...yeah..._

 _This is my very first attempt at writing smut so I would really appreciate feedback on this. The goal on my vision board is to become a published author of Adult Urban Fantasy and so naturally smut would be involved. Anyway...was this too much or too little? Did it paint a picture? Was it a picture you liked looking at? Please be honest. Especially since there will be more in the coming chapters. But also be gentle. My face is red enough already!_

 _Smut aside, this is actually a bit of a maintenance chapter bringing full circle points between Klonnie from as early as Chapter 11 on._

 _There will absolutely be Klefan, along with Stefonnie and several others. As well as a few faces you might have forgotten about. Armies...drama...Klonnie...it's all happening._

 _Again, thanks so much for the reads and reviews!_


	20. The Room Where It Happens

**The Room Where It Happens**

 _It was all falling apart._

Bonnie covered her face with her hands as she listened to what had to be the 200th argument to erupt between werewolves, vampires and witches since all had been assembled two days ago.

"Frankly, I don't think anyone is in any position to discuss usefulness when the reason we're in this mess is because of how easily manipulated vampires are," Frederick pointed out."

Stefan's eyes narrowed, "You care to explain that comment?"

"I don't think it needs explanation. Our enemy used vampires to get out and who can blame him? Your kind is fickle, selfish and narcissistic. Anyone with enough power to exert can manipulate you however they like."

"And yet somehow your kind hasn't managed to pull that off," the vampire quipped.

"That's because our desires are not the same and never have been," James said. We don't seek to bleed this world dry and set ourselves up as kings, _your kind does_. We don't see humans as mere food or as a means in which to procreate, _your kind does_. We don't fear power that is unlike our own whereas _your kind_ seeks to subjugate it. Tell me...how different are vampires from this _Bob_ exactly?" The she wolf's words landed on the table, daring anyone to dispute them.

"Alright, look," Caroline said, rising her from her chair. "Your kind has been treated like shit by vampires, _we get it_. But if you think I'm going to sit here and let you keep talking shit...well then you are talking to the wrong bitch, ok?"

Further down the table, Klaus and Marcel were sniping at each other with enthusiasm.

"By rights those grimoires belong to my family, Marcel. Is there anything else you've stolen from my home?"

The vampire laughed, "What home? We burnt that shit down and salted the earth."

It was a cacophony of raised voices and barely veiled threats and it was wearing on Bonnie's already frayed nerves until they were paper thin. How were they going to fight Bob when they couldn't even finish a meeting without it turning into... _this_?

She missed Damon.

Before becoming friends in the prison world, they'd been partners in crime when it came to getting the job done. Bonnie couldn't count how many times they'd all be in the boardinghouse griping about this or that while deciding on nothing. Before long, Damon would catch her eye from across the room and a silent agreement would take place. There was an understanding between them. They both knew that in order to press an advantage; to get the upper hand on a stronger enemy, you needed to strike while the iron was hot. But you can't do that if the other members of your team were too busy hemming and hawing.

So they'd go it alone. And by the time Stefan got a chance to chide or Elena got a chance to dissolve into histrionics, whatever deed would be done.

But this...this constant snarling and bickering. It was like everyone was more interested in airing out their personal grievances then actually working together to solve a problem that could actually destroy them all. Close to 600 people milled around the main house and accompanying grounds; right now she sat in the midst of a room full of their leaders…

 _So why the fuck did she feel like she was all alone in this?_

 _Why the fuck was she the only one focused on the real goal?_

Bonnie slapped her hands down on the surface of the table and stood.

"You know what?" She asked to no one in particular. " _Fuck this_."

A moment later she'd left the room, the door slamming shut behind her.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Bonnie entered the Bennet Archive. It was one of the only places left, aside from her bedroom and the caves where she could enjoy some privacy.

When she ventured deeper into the room, she found Celeste curled up in front of the small writing desk.

"Hiding from them too, huh?" She asked the animal before joining her on the floor. Celeste repositioned herself to rest her massive head in the witch's lap.

"They're being real assholes right now, Celeste," Bonnie said softly, scratching behind the dog's ears.

She'd begun to worry that she made the wrong decision about alliances not long after everyone arrived.

The wolves appeared first. Chloe with Tyler at her side and the other four alphas: James, Frederick, Neil and Erik.

James Dixon was the most reserved of the alphas. Named after her father, she arrived with her pack from Pennsylvania. Though she was slight in form, she carried herself as though she thought it necessary to keep a tight rein on the wolf within.

" _Ms. Bennett," she'd said when they first arrived, extending her hand._

" _Thank you so much for coming. Please call me Bonnie" the witch replied, shaking the alpha's hand. "It's really important that you're here."_

 _James eyed the witch carefully. "We're about to enter into an alliance with witches, vampires and a hybrid. With the exception of your great ancestor, these are beings who have never been…_ _considerate_ _…when it comes to their dealings with my kind. Were the circumstances different, we would not be here."_

 _Bonnie nodded, "I know. But…hopefully coming together like this can be a first step in changing that."_

" _We'll see." James said lightly._

Eric Monroe and Neil Havenhurst out of Ohio and upstate New York respectively, were the youngest of the alphas having only recently come into power within the last 3 years. Eric, the younger of the duo, taught auto mechanics at a trade school in Fort Wayne. The ginger haired wolf didn't bother to hide the way his eyes lit up as he gazed at Bonnie appreciatively.

" _I'm going to have to have a word with Chloe and Tyler. They didn't mention that our last best hope would also be the prettiest witch I've ever seen," the wolf said, taking her hand and bringing it to his lips. He smiled, revealing a dimple in his left cheek._

 _Bonnie eyes widened. "Oh! Um…well…thank you," she stammered, blushing furiously only to end up gasping sharply at the low growl coming from the hybrid standing behind her. She turned, openly gaping._

" _Did you just_ _growl_ _at him?" She whispered harshly._

" _It would appear so," Klaus replied, his eyes never leaving the wolf. He'd been feeling inexplicably restless from the moment the packs arrived. Dozens had passed him; boldly staring in open curiosity and suspicion. Aside from Tyler and Chloe, he'd never laid eyes on any of the wolves assembled, and yet they acted as though he'd caused them some great offense. He thought back to his conversation with Chloe from weeks ago. She'd judged him based on his treatment of Tyler and his hybrids. It appeared the other packs did as well._

 _And now this smug interloper was taking an interest in Bonnie._

 _Eric smiled indulgently, still holding her hand. "Don't be too hard on him, Ms. Bennett." His eyes shifted back and forth between her and the hybrid in assessment. "I suppose at this point, he can't help it…and who would blame him?"_

 _Neil stepped forward, chuckling. "Play nice, Eric." He took Bonnie's hand from the wolf and shook it warmly._

" _Ignore him. He likes to start shit," he said, drawing the witch's mildly worried gaze. Neil had a mop of electric blue hair that fell messily across his forehead._

" _Well that's not fair…I also like to finish it," Eric said, his eyes returning to the witch._

" _Eric…" Neil began._

" _Considering the amount of shit we've got going on already, why add to it unnecessarily?" Bonnie quipped, her smile frozen in place._

" _Exactly, Ms. Bennett," Neil said, nodding before turning to Klaus. "Mr. Mikaelson. Unfortunately, your reputation precedes you."_

" _Clearly it hasn't," Klaus said smoothly, "Or how prickly I get over what is mine would be common knowledge."_

" _Or maybe I just don't care," Eric said, just as smoothly, the smile never leaving his lips as his eyes hardened._

 _A belabored sigh cut through the tension. "Eric…stop being…well_ _you_ _…for a moment," Frederick asked, stepping forward. The Honorable Frederick Anderson was a federal judge of the fourth circuit. With his leathery chestnut brown skin and shock of snow white hair, the alpha was the oldest of them._

" _Ms. Bennett has welcomed us into her home; is this really what you want to do?" He held up a finger before the wolf could respond. "Since you're not being you right now…the answer to that would be_ _no_ _."_

If that had been the end of the trouble, Bonnie would have called herself a lucky woman. But she wasn't lucky and that certainly hadn't been the end.

Once Vincent and Marcel arrived, things got decidedly worse.

Vincent, to his credit, was fine. But his witches, upon seeing Klaus were reminded of all the chaos and death the Mikaelsons had brought to their lives and to their city. Marcel, for his part, was more than irritated that Bonnie had not heeded his warnings about getting involved with the hybrid. Based on her being covered in his scent and Klaus' self-satisfied smirk, Marcel knew that she likely never would. Still, he held himself in check for the moment.

His vampires, on the other hand were less reserved. Despite their commitment to Marcel, they couldn't help but be uncomfortable in their new surroundings. While the undead held themselves atop the supernatural food chain, in this place there were caught between those who could kill with a single bite and those with enough power to destroy them utterly. And both groups had cause to not only distrust them but to also demand retribution.

The wolves of the five packs were equally on guard in the presence of both witches and vampires. As a general rule, wolves were wary of witches. Far too often had they acted on behalf of vampires; leaving death and destruction in their wake. And while the five packs held Ayanna in high esteem, they'd made it a point to steer clear of witches whenever possible. After all, wherever a witch goes, a vampire is sure to follow.

But where the majority of their kind were resentful beasts that fled to the woods for shelter and looked to a moonstone or moonlight ring for their deliverance, the wolves who followed the old ways did not live by another's leave. They did not scramble about to find their place in a world that feared them. Like witches, they existed both in the natural and supernatural world. They owned homes, had careers, paid taxes and were active members of their communities. And on the night of the full moon, they would retreat from their cities and suburbs; taking to the woods not as a hiding place, but as a space in which to commune with the members of their pack before returning to the human world. They did not carry themselves as though they feared detection, choosing instead to dare the interloper to come closer and be either welcomed or torn apart.

Taking all of that into consideration, the following two days had been a frustrating, nerve wracking experience punctuated with frequent flare ups of aggression between each group. And while their leaders took an active role in diffusing most situations, they also seemed incapable of avoiding dust ups of their own.

Bonnie was feeling as impotent as she'd been before discovering Ayanna's talisman. Time that should have been spent strategizing and working on much needed spells was instead spent putting out fires and pleading for cooperation.

Angry tears stung the witch's eyes and a panic set in as her mind entertained the very real possibility…the very real _fear_ that she might have to do this all by herself after all.

 **BKBKBKBK**

They all stared as the door slammed shut in the Bonnie's wake. The quiet she'd been advocating for finally achieved.

Caroline leaned towards Klaus. "You should go after her," she said quietly.

The hybrid's jaw tightened. "I will… _after_."

Marcel snorted, "After what?"

The hybrid rose from his seat, bracing his hands against the table surface. The bond pulsed with Bonnie's fear and anger. He wanted to go to her. To reassure her and soothe her fears. But to do so now would be to placate her with empty words offering no result. No, he would not go to her until he could guarantee her that all had been set to rights.

" _After_ we all have a little chat about the way things _are_. Not how they _were_ or how they _will be_ , but how they are _right now_. Because right now, the only one standing between us and annihilation just fucking quit. Now why do you suppose that is?"

"I am not about to sit here and let you chide me," Marcel hissed.

"Fine," Klaus snapped, "Then how about we all stop acting like petulant children and start acting like the monsters we actually are? I'll start."

He straightened, folding his arms across his chest and looked out over the assembly. He was suddenly reminded of the night Marcel sentenced him. Elijah and Kol were bitten and dying, Freya was poisoned and Rebekah hexed. He had been made to stand before his angry, ungrateful sirelings and defend himself.

It's now that he sees what an utterly ridiculous endeavor that had been.

"As it stands…our enemy will be here in three days' time. He will come here with his army, breach our shield, walk right up to Bonnie Bennett and take her. He will then hollow her out, stripping her of every ounce of grace and valor. Once he has taken her magic for his own, he will turn to us. And unless we are willing to bend the knee, he will hollow us out just as thoroughly before spreading like the blight he is to poison and destroy everything that we know. That is the situation…as it currently stands."

"If we didn't want to fight, we wouldn't be here," Eric pointed out.

"Really?" Klaus asked. "Fight who? Bonnie? Each other? _Me_? Because you're certainly not here to fight the enemy—who by the by the way, has a force bound by manipulation and subjugation at his back while we sit here and bicker about the past. While we sit here and insist on reminding our champion of why we aren't worthy of her efforts to save us all. If there is to be any hope of success, this infighting cannot continue."

"You don't think we know that?" Marcel demanded. "We're all aware of what's at stake but—"

"But it's not more important that your grievances with me, is that it?" Klaus asked, fixing the vampire with his gaze before continuing.

"The centuries of strife between our kinds began centuries ago with the actions of my family. Since then the crimes we've committed against one another have been _spectacular_. Our reasons for committing them have been our own and can neither be explained nor forgiven. So if you're looking for an apology, not only won't you get one…you wouldn't accept one if you did." He surveyed the room, daring anyone to disagree.

"So where does that leave us?" Vincent asked.

"It leaves us with an opportunity," The hybrid answered. "This is a watershed moment for our kinds. Are we going to allow the sins of the past to dictate our way forward? Are we going to allow our pasts to destroy us? In enlisting our help, Bonnie Bennet has presented us— _all of us_ -with an opportunity and we are squandering it. We _can_ begin again. _We have to_. We owe it those we've wronged to begin again and forge a new path."

The hybrid pointed to the door. "The stubborn little witch that stormed out of here has done all of the work at this point, and still has a great deal more to do…Are we going to be a hindrance, or are we going to a help?"

 **BKBKBKBK**

"You know…this bond is such a handy bit of business when it comes to finding you," Klaus said upon seeing the witch. He lowered to the floor, extracting her from beneath Celeste and bringing her to straddle his lap. Once settled, Bonnie's head fell forward, her forehead pressed to his. He caught the scent of whiskey and lemongrass when she slowly sighed.

"I'm not going back out there, Nik." Bonnie said, quietly; feeling his curls tickling her skin.

"Of course you are...it's your house." His settled his hands on the fullness of her ass.

"No, I'm not. I can't do this with them any more. I asked for help because I need it. And even though all these people are here, I'm not getting it. The comet will be here in three days and so much time has been wasted since they all got here. I mean, we got more done when it was just us and Caroline and Stefan. So I'm going to stay here until I calm down and then I'm going to figure out a way to pull this off with just the four us."

The hybrid scoffed, "You'll do no such thing. You are going to go out there and you are going to find an army that is ready, willing and able to help you in whatever way you need."

"Yeah...until the next snide comment or thrown punch or impalement," Bonnie laughed bitterly, raising her head. "I wanted this to work so badly…but what was I thinking? I can't get them to put decades... _centuries_ of bad blood aside and do this-"

Klaus reached over and cupped her cheek. "It's not up to you to fix this, sweetheart. And it never should have been. It's not your job to worry about years of animosity that have nothing to do with you and we know that." He lightly pressed his thumb to her lips when she tried to speak. " _We do_ ," He said, his eyes serious.

Bonnie frowned, "How?"

"I talked to them," he said lightly.

The witch blinked. " _You talked to them_?" She repeated. And they _listened_?" Disbelief was heavy in her voice.

"I can be extremely persuasive—witness: your adoration of me," He smiled when she smacked his chest. "We didn't kiss and make up and we won't be singing kumbaya...but for the time being, we're on the same side. And how could we not be when the same side also happens to be your side?"

He took her hand, entwining their fingers. "Now come out and see for yourself."

Bonnie bit her lip doubtfully. "I really want this to work, Nik."

Klaus snorted, "We've already established my position when it comes to your desires, now haven't we?"

Bonnie slumped, groaning in exasperation. "Yes and it was as ridiculous then as it is now. _You can't do that_ ," she cupped his face with her hands, lightly shaking him to stress the point.

Klaus titled his head as if determining if she'd suddenly gone mad. " _Of course I can_ ," he said scoffing at the absurdity of him being unable to do something. "You make it very easy because your desires are so very… _Bonnie_ ," he said, realizing that no better word comes to mind when describing the engine that both powers and drives her will.

Bonnie smiled, giving up for a moment. "I love you," she said, dropping a kiss on his mouth. The next instant he was on his feet, her legs wrapped around him. "I know," he smirked.

Bonnie rolled her eyes as he lowered her and took her hand.

"Now come along…your adoring public awaits."

 **BKBKBKBK**

"We're going to need to slow down their vampires as much as possible," Vincent said, motioning to the map on the table. "When Bonnie and I finish working on the spell, we may have a better idea of how many are coming. But in any case, when that barrier goes down, they're coming straight for the house. If we—". They all looked up as Bonnie and Klaus entered.

"Ah, Ms. Bennett," James said. "You'll want to have a look at this."

Bonnie stared as James, Frederick, Neil, Eric and Vincent hunched over the large map, looking at her as though she'd only stepped away for a breath of air. Caroline seemed to be deep in conversation with Stefan, Chloe, Marcel and Tyler when she looked up and smiled in her friend's direction. The witch turned to look up at Klaus with wide eyes.

Klaus raised her hand and kissed her knuckles. "See? _All better_ …as your Grams would say." He led her over to join the others.

"Vincent has told us that you've found a way to get eyes into our enemy's camp," James continued.

Bonnie nodded. "Um…yeah. Since Bob's witches used my friend's blood to get to Klaus when they hexed him, I'm thinking we can use his to get to her. I think we can spell her and get a look around though her eyes." The witch explained, her eyes wary.

"Well that's good," Eric said, nodding. "The more intel we get on their numbers, the more we fine tune our push back and…you look puzzled."

"As she should," Frederick chiming in. "Considering that those who'd been making her life hell the past few days are suddenly being…cooperative. An explanation is more than warranted." The judge stepped closer to the witch.

"Ms. Bennett, we—all of us—have done you a great disservice since our arrival. Initial attempts at civility fell by the wayside and we've succeeded in doing nothing but wasting your time by becoming an unnecessary weight on already burdened shoulders. While I cannot speak for the others, I will say that for my kind, we are ashamed that we allowed animosity to overshadow the debt that is owed to the Great Healer. It will not happen again."

Bonnie was blinking furious, absorbing the wolf's words while scanning the expectant face of those around her. "That must have been one hell of a talk you guys had," was all she could think to say.

"Indeed it was, Chloe said. "But very needed. Isn't that right, Mr. Gerard?"

Marcel was silent for a moment, his jaw working. "It is," he said, finally, his eyes finding Bonnie.

Bonnie gave a small smile before letting out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Good," she said, nodding. "That's really good."

"Great!" Eric said, clapping his hands together. "Now that everyone's on the same page, how do you feel about us digging trenches in what is ultimately your beautifully manicured front yard?"

 **BKBKBKBK**

Bonnie sat in the center of the circle. Vincent crouched down, handing her a small goblet.

"Should I sip it or shoot it?" she asked, drawing it to her lips.

"Shoot it. God only knows how it tastes."

Bonnie looked around the room. "Nik?"

"I'm right here, love," Klaus answered, leaning against a wall with the other alphas along with Marcel, Stefan and Caroline.

Bonnie nodded before turning back to Vincent. "Here's mud in your eye," she saluted before downing the entire contents of the goblet. She immediately started coughing and retching, the foul taste unlike anything she's ever experienced.

"That bad, huh?" Vincent asked.

Bonnie gasped, her eyes watering. " _Fucking…polyjuice…potion…_ " she wheezed, earning a chuckle from the witch. When she finally quieted, he gently eased her onto her back.

"Ready?" he asked.

Bonnie nodded, closing her eyes. "Let's do this."

Vincent stood, taking his place among the circle of witches. Once he felt Bonnie call upon her magic, they began to chant.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Elena walked through the halls of the boardinghouse. She'd awakened a little over a week ago and yet in a way, she felt as though she were still sleeping. The boardinghouse was teeming with people; coming and going…packing and loading trucks. More and more arrived with each passing day, leaving Damon's bedroom as the only place for peace and quiet.

 _Damon_. He was as she remembered except… _different_. She supposed that it was the fact that she'd never seen him so focused before. He was always giving orders or meeting in private with Enzo and Logan. While he would be about, she'd be stuck with the witches. They were so fascinated with her blood. Always asking her to provide some. It was annoying really and it made her feel like her blood was the only thing of value to them. No one talked to her besides Damon. And she could readily admit that she was lonely and missed her friends.

Her face brightened when she saw Damon and Enzo walking towards her.

"Damon," she breathed, smiling.

The vampire stopped in front of her and smirked as Enzo continued on past them.

"Finished making your latest donation?" Damon asked, kissing her.

Elena nodded before turned when she heard Enzo stop abruptly.

"Do you smell that?" Enzo asked, turning to face them, his nostril flaring.

"Smell what?" Damon asked frowning.

Enzo walked towards the couple, stopping next to Elena. He leaned towards her and smelled her hair.

"What are you doing?" she asked, recoiling slightly.

Enzo stared at her curiously before smiling. "Don't mind me, love. Must be the stress of all this preparation. I think we all could use a break. In fact why don't you and Damon come have a drink with me in the library? I don't think we've really had a chance to talk since you've been awake."

When they arrived in the library, Damon immediately went to the bar to make drinks.

Enzo fell into an oversized chair, his legs dangling over an arm. "So tell me, Elena…how are you enjoying being back in the land of the blinking?" He accepted the glass Damon handed him with a nod.

The doppelganger's brow furrowed as she sat on the couch, "Honestly? It's taking a little getting used to…especially with everything going on."

Enzo nodded. "And what is going on, exactly? How much has Damon told you about our little problem?"

"That's it's not _little_ at all," Elena said, taking the glass Damon offered before joining her. "There's some kind of witch relative of Bonnie's. She's the reason all of my family and friends are gone and she wants to bend everyone to her will. Enzo… _the real Enzo_ …offered up his body as a vessel and Bonnie died using her magic to put you in it to stop her."

"And how do you feel about that?"

Elena thought for a moment. She found it strange that she hadn't really felt anything when Damon told her what happened, but a part of her reasoned that she'd lost so many in her life that this numbness she felt was a relief in the face of reality. Between that and having Damon…she may feel out of place at the moment, but at least she was safe.

"I don't think I've processed it yet," she said, simply.

Enzo nodded, "Yes well…if you have any questions, I'm more than happy to answer them."

"How are you going to stop her?" Elena asked, perking up. "The witch? Bonnie summoned you…but Enzo's a vampire, not a witch. Howe are you going to stop her?"

Enzo smiled, fingering his glass. "No, I'm not a witch. But I am a bit of an expert when it comes to magic. I can sniff it out, you see. All kinds…in any form. Take you for instance. The magic contained in your blood has a very distinct scent. Something entirely your own." He swung his legs away from the chair's arm and set his feet on the floor.

"It's cloying really, but I've gotten used to it. Too sweet…too pungent…Except for now of course." He set his glass on the small table near him.

Elena frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well…" Enzo drawled. "Up until I ran into you a few moments ago, you were a scent I'd gotten used to. But now, dear Elena… _right now_ …you smell altogether different."

Damon turned towards Elena, tensing.

Elena shook her head in confusion. "I'm sorry, I don't know what—"

The next instant Enzo's hand was around her throat; squeezing as he straddled her, pressing her into couch. He glided his nose along her jawline, inhaling.

"Yes," he hissed. "Right you smell just like the magic I've been waiting for." He breathed in deeply, letting it fill him, sparking his senses.

"Damo—"

"I'm right here, sweetheart" Damon answered lazily, examining his fingernails from nearby.

"Elena," Enzo called, his grip on her neck tightening a fraction. His eyes bore into her until he saw them dilate.

" _Shut. Up_." He commanded.

He watched as whatever plea beginning to form, caught in her throat and died.

Enzo smiled cruelly. "Now…where's our guest of honor? Come on, love. You've gotten this far but can you go a bit farther? I know you're in there so say something, Bonnie Bennett. _Say something_."

Enzo watched as whiskey colored eyes hardened in a way he hadn't thought them capable of and glared at him.

"Hiya, Bob," The voice was Elena's, to be sure. But the razor sharp edge it now carried, made Damon's head snap up recognition.

"Well I'll be damned…" He murmured.

Enzo's grip on Elena's neck lessened as he laughed. "I'm impressed! _I am thoroughly impressed Bonnie Bennett_. Is there anything you can't do?"

"Well…I'm having a bit of trouble standing your breath…"

Enzo's fingers retightened. "What are you doing here, witch?"

"Kinda bored. Thought I'd take a look around."

"Couldn't wait for my visit? Patience is a virtue, Bonnie Bennett," He chided.

"Well Bob…I was that kid that always tried to catch Santa in the act."

Enzo smiled showing teeth. " _Bob_ …couldn't you come up with anything better?"

Elena sighed. "Voldermort felt overdone and Sauron felt like a compliment. So…Bob it is."

Enzo looked over his shoulder at Damon, smirking. "Is she always like this?"

"It's a part of her charm," Damon answered. It was weird hearing Bonnie coming out of Elena's mouth. Her voice suddenly lacked that plaintive undertone, that deep dissatisfaction with being _the one_ while desperately clinging to the security that it brings.

Enzo eyes were back on Elena's face. "You are nothing like your wretched forebear…all those lovely sharp edges you have. Shame I'll have to end you, I would have enjoyed dulling them. Tell you what…whenever I use that delicious magic of yours, I'll promise to think of you."

Elena smiled cruelly and began to laugh. "You took Enzo from me, _Damon_ …my mother… _my sister_. Do you really think I'm not going to make you pay for that? I'll show you magic the likes of which you've _never fucking seen_. And then I'll make sure you never see anything ever again. So if you want me…come get me, bitch."

The grip on Elena's neck tightened painfully. Enzo was on his feet hauling the doppelganger with him and holding her aloft, her feet dangling several inches from the floor.

The Bennett Witch was gone, the scent of her magic dissipating rapidly, leaving nothing but Elena to claw frantically at the hand around her throat.

She fell to the floor in a heap when he released her; her gasps ragged. Enzo glared at her in disgust before he sped from the room, the door slamming shut behind him.

Damon bent to help Elena to her feet. The brunette clung to him as she continued to struggle for breath.

"What happened? What did I do wrong?" she gasped.

Damon understood his master's frustration. Before he'd been cleansed, he'd felt it on more than one occasion after dealing with Bonnie. As charmingly unassuming as the witch could be, there was a brazenness to her. A tongue as sharp and nuanced as a scimitar and guided by an earnestness that forced you to balance on the tightrope between kissing her until she bruised and breaking her fucking neck. She was fear of the unknown made flesh and blood and so she both attracted and repulsed in equal measure, leaving only a brave few strong enough to take a step forward.

And while Damon had balls the size of Texas…he was not brave. And it was that knowledge that frustrated him right up to the day he heard Elena's voice and entered the vault.

Now nothing frustrates him, and he's all the better for it.

"You didn't do anything wrong," he soothed absently. "He just wishes you were someone else."

Elena frowned at Damon's words, ashamed to admit that while she felt not an ounce of feeling towards the being within Enzo, that he considered her so was both thrilling and dismaying.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Vincent passed a goblet of cold water to the witch. Bonnie drank deeply, the liquid soothing the dryness of her throat. The moment the witches dropped their circle, Klaus was at her side. His hand cupped her cheek while his eyes assessed her for any sign of harm.

"Are you alright?" he asked, finally.

Bonnie nodded, leaning forward to press her lips against his as she sighed tiredly.

She straightened slowly when Frederick approached and crouched down near her. "You've got a hell of a mouth on you Ms. Bennett," the wolf said, chuckling.

The witch smiled. "Please you guys, call me Bonnie."

"We will," Chloe said, stepping forward, "But first, we'd like for you and Mikaelson to come to our camp tonight for dinner. Neil's cooking." The alpha from New York was also a sous chef for a small restaurant in Albany.

"Oh!" Bonnie said, startled by the invitation and looking towards Klaus. She smiled when he nodded, "We'd love to."

Frederick nodded, giving her shoulder a squeeze before rising.

" _Forbes…Ms. Forbes…come in_ …" A voice crackled over Caroline's two-way.

"Go ahead," she answered.

" _Yeah…we've got a human out here at the barrier. Say's Lockwood sent for him. He's here to see Ms. Bennett._ "

"For the love of God, please call me Bonnie," the witch groaned in exasperation.

Caroline snickered, "Did he give a name?" she asked into the two-way.

" _Yeah…Jeremy…Jeremy Gilbert_."

 _I am soooo sorry it's taken me this long to get this update up. Work has been more than a little bit of a headache on top of that Red Wedding of an election we just had. Plus my muse and I were going back and forth on how to proceed tonally after the last update._

 _Speaking of which, thank you all so much for your input on the last chapter. I had no idea that writing smut could be so daunting until I actually had to do it LMAO. In any case I really appreciate the feedback and will definitely be keeping it in mind for upcoming chapters._

 _Next update will be a bit on the feelsy side as I'm starting to bring this story to a close. There will Stefonnie, Klefan, Beremy, possibly some Bamon, a few others you might not expect and as always, Klonnie._

 _S8 has begun and from what I've seen/heard in these Tumblr streets, I'm very happy that I decided not to watch this season. Especially after hearing what went down this last ep with Tyler. Full disclosure: I liked Damon in S1. He was just enough of a villain and was obviously going to be put on a redemption arc. However, between S2 and S5, I really couldn't stand him. Yes I could see the chemistry with Bonnie and it allowed me to ship them, but Damon as a character was a complete shit. It wasn't until S6 when we got to see him outside of Elena's orbit for a while that I really started to enjoy him as a character and see that there was still room for growth. S7 killed that for him by regressing him and based on S8...any affection for his character is pretty much gone for good as far as I'm concerned. I can deal with just about any kind of bad plot-how heavily this story draws from canon should be proof of that lol-but shitty character development makes my ass itch. And there is literally no other way to describe the character development for Damon between S1 and now. How are we at this point still willing to blame Damon's poor choices on either Stefan turning him or Elena not being with him?_

And I guess I needed to put that out there because these final chapters will have Damon in them more and I don't want my feelings about S8 (and to an extent S7) to color my ability to be as fair to this character has I've wanted to be.

 _Anyway, end of the world withstanding...the only other time you should see anything close to a gap this big in updating will be chapters 24 and 25 because I'll I'll be writing them one right after the other so they can be posted at the same time._

 _Thanks for your patience as well as for the reviews and follows! I appreciate you all so much!_


	21. Catalyst

**Catalyst**

"You're a petty bitch, you know that, Tyler?" Caroline hissed.

"Look, I'll be the first to admit that this Klaus and Bonnie thing was a reason for calling Jeremy. But it wasn't the _only_ reason. Elena is his sister. Do you really think he shouldn't be involved in this?"

"Yes!" Caroline cried, her eyes flashing. "Bonnie doesn't need Jeremy's shit right now, Tyler. None of us do."

"That doesn't change the fact that Elena is awake and alive and he had a right to know, Caroline!"

"If this was all about you trying to do the right thing, then why didn't you tell anyone he was coming?!"

Tyler thought for a minute. "Ok, that part was petty," He smirked.

"Damn it, Tyler!" Caroline growled, lunging for the wolf only to be stopped by Stefan.

"Look I'm not going to lie and say that I'm ok with Klaus getting his claws into Bonnie. You two can't see what's going on the way wolves can. If Bonnie doesn't hurry up and come to her senses fast, she's going to be stuck with that asshole for the rest of her life!"

"She doesn't _need_ to come to her fucking senses, Tyler! She's in love with him!" The blonde raged.

" _If Bonnie Bennett is in love with Klaus Mikaelson, then she's out of her fucking mind_." The wolf gritted out. "You two don't get it because when he wasn't trying to bromance you," he said, pointing to Stefan. "Then he was trying to sleep with you!" He finished pointing to Caroline. "You don't know what it's like to have him swoop in and take everyone and everything that means anything to you and then laugh about it."

"Ok…ok…" Stefan said raising a hand and turning to Caroline.

"Tyler's right. Elena is Jeremy's sister and he has right to know what's going on with her."

He turned to Tyler and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Now generally, I keep quiet when it comes to Bonnie. For years it was because it was in my best interests. Keeping quiet meant she was less likely to be talked out of whatever reckless, horrible thing we needed her to do. Now I keep quiet out of respect. More than me, more than you, more than any of us…Bonnie has earned the right to her choices. And she's earned the right to have those choices respected."

"Stefan…It's _Klaus_."

"You think Klaus is my first choice for Bonnie?" Stefan asked. " _Hell no_! But it's not up to me, ok? Now I don't know what it is you wolves can see, but what _I_ see is something that's _working_. And it's working in a way I haven't seen in _either_ of them before. _They love each other_. If you're going to see anything, _see that_. Because Bonnie doesn't deserve _you_ trying to swoop in and take this away from her."

 **BKBKBKBK**

"He's right, you know," Marcel said, stepping out of the shadows. "He's right to worry about you."

Klaus snorted, "Of course he is. _I'm worrisome_." He'd been listening to Tyler prattle on about his relationship with Bonnie from the balcony above.

"Stefan's right too," Marcel continued, "You're different with her. _Disturbingly so._ "

Klaus laughed. "Disturbingly…in what way?"

"In that if I didn't know any better I'd swear you had a soul," the vampire answered with a light chuckle.

They were quiet for a few moments and Klaus found himself at a loss. This was the first time he'd been alone with the vampire without the bitter sting of anger and betrayal coloring either of their words.

"Did you really burn down the Abattoir?" The hybrid asked, finally.

Marcel nodded. "Yep. After we put you in the Garden, we looted the place and set it ablaze. You have a problem with that?" The question was asked simply yet full of genuine curiosity.

"It was destroyed seven years ago," Klaus said. "I suppose I don't see the point in being angry about something so far removed."

"And the looting?" Marcel pressed, almost wanting to needle him into a reaction. Wanting him to show some sign that his words would not reflect his actions.

The hybrid turned and faced him. While he was no longer the willful human boy he'd happened upon centuries ago, somethings never changed. The faint crease that appeared in the vampire's brow now, always appeared when there were questions Marcel was hesitant to ask.

"Is that really what you want to ask me?"

The vampire sighed. " _Fine_. After Bob's taken care of, what happens next? Are the Mikaelsons going to darken my city's doorstep again? Are we going to tear New Orleans apart again?"

Klaus turned the question over in his mind. He'd come to his decision after his first exchange with his childe weeks ago. "I will not speak for my siblings, but I believe my business in New Orleans is done."

Marcel's eyes widened slightly. "It is?"

"Indeed," Klaus nodded. "I returned there intending to reclaim what I'd been forced to relinquish. I wanted things to return to the way they used to be and only succeeded in making them worse. I find I no longer want that now. I don't want things to go back to the way they used to be. Not when what could be is so much more intriguing."

Marcel studied the hybrid carefully "I hope you mean that," he finally said, quietly.

Klaus could hear the hesitation in the vampire's voice. He couldn't fault him for it. Far too many times Marcel had come to him in good faith-believing that the bond they shared was made of more than platitudes-only to have that faith ripped apart repeatedly. Far too many times had he knowingly backed Marcel into a corner and used his love and need for acceptance as leverage against him.

"Well, there's really only one way for you to know, isn't there?" He asked. "Words are meaningless between us now, aren't they? However, we are both creatures of action. Perhaps one day our actions will return meaning to our words."

Marcel stood silently, not knowing how to respond. Frustrated that after all this time-after all the lies, betrayals and death-the boy he used to be; the boy he'd said goodbye to when he plunged Tunde's blade into his sire's chest, _wanted_ to believe his words.

"As long as I live I don't think I'll ever understand you," the vampire said, shaking his head ruefully.

Klaus chuckled, "Would you believe that I'm only now beginning to understand myself?"

"Is that the witch's fault?"

" _Fault_? No, but I would say that she has certainly been a catalyst," the hybrid mused.

"She seems to be that a lot," Marcel snorted.

"Indeed. It is a rare thing to effect change in others simply by being yourself and yet she does it effortlessly."

"So who's the idiot down there with her?" Marcel asked, motion toward the witch and the human who walked beside her.

"The doppelganger's brother cousin."

Marcel looked at the hybrid quizzically.

"It sounds more interesting than it actually is, I assure you," Klaus said dryly.

"So what does he want?"

"He's a Gilbert and she is a Bennett. Most likely he's expecting her to drop everything and assist him in freeing his...sister cousin," the hybrid explained. "And because he's a Gilbert, he's quite capable of attempting to use their personal history as leverage."

Marcel quirked an eyebrow. "Personal history?"

"Jeremy Gilbert is Bonnie's first love," Klaus replied.

Marcel's head whipped back to the pair walking across the grounds and frowned in disbelief. " _That guy_?"

"That guy," the hybrid confirmed.

Marcel shook his head. "Doesn't matter what century...teenagers are always full of hormones and bad decisions."

Klaus nodded, "I should know. Your teenage years were extremely taxing."

"Oh no...I'm proud to be the exception."

"Funny, I seem to recall a rather smitten fifteen year old boy, a very lovely but frightfully dim girl named Clara and some of the most god awful poetry known to man," Klaus said mildly.

Marcel's eyes widened, "You still remember that?"

"I remember everything that pertains to you," Klaus said, evenly. "And considering that I have countless lines of that dreck you two wrote to one another permanently burned into my brain, Tunde's blade really was a bit of overkill."

Marcel could only smirk in reply. The tension between them hadn't lessened, but it seemed to be mutating into something a bit more bearable for the moment.

"Burned it down, did you?" Klaus asked, remembering the Abattoir again.

"To the ground," Marcel said, smirking. "It felt good."

The hybrid chuckled, "I'm sure it did. I'd have done the same were I in your place."

 **BKBKBKBK**

"So she's being held prisoner inside the boardinghouse?" Jeremy asked. "When do we leave?"

Bonnie stopped walking and braced herself. "We don't. We're making our last stand here."

"But what about Elena?" He turned to face her when he was met with only silence.

"I can't save her, Jeremy," the witch replied quietly.

"What do you mean you can't save her? This is Elena we're talking about."

"I know that and my answer's still the same. I can't do it."

Jeremy's face hardened when he saw the resolve in hers. "I can't believe what I'm hearing. You're going to just leave Elena to this monster?"

"No. I'm leaving Enzo, Damon _and_ Elena to him," she answered firmly. "You think I haven't tried to think of another way?"

"Well I don't know Bonnie, what have you been doing? I'm finding it hard to believe that you would just leave your friend...your _sister_ to rot."

" _You're not listening to me_. I didn't just _do_ anything. Trying to rescue her is a risk I just can't afford to take, Jeremy."

"Why not?!"

"Why—are you serious right now?" the witch snapped, frustration beginning to give way to anger. "Look around you. These people aren't just twiddling their thumbs, Jeremy. Bob and his entire goddamn army are going to be right where we're standing in less than 72 hours."

"Even better. If he's bringing everyone with him then he'll more than likely bring Elena here too. We can get her out then."

"Jeremy-"

"What? Why isn't that an option?"

"Because I don't think she's making it out of Mystic Falls, that's why. I think that before they make their way here, those witches are going to drain her of every ounce of blood to use against us. And if you go down there, you're only going to succeed in getting yourself killed."

"Better that than just leaving her without even trying. I thought you loved her, Bonnie."

"I do love Elena! In spite of everything, I love her. But this isn't a game, Jeremy. I'm here, _these people are here_ because we are fighting for something that is actually bigger than Elena. We aren't opening tombs or breaking curses or hunting for stupid fucking cures. We're fighting for all of us! And I'm not jeopardizing that for anyone. Not for you and not for her."

Jeremy's eyes pleaded with her. "There has to be another way. I can't just leave her…not when it's my fault she's there in the first place."

Bonnie sucked in a breath as he confirmed her suspicions. "They found her using your blood. How?"

"I was at a bar in Nebraska. Her name was Amanda. We had drinks, we talked...she was cute," he explained with a shrug. "I took her back to the motel. One thing led to another..."

"And when you woke up the next day, she was gone," Bonnie concluded.

"Yeah...and my hand was bandaged but I was so drunk I thought I hurt it myself. It didn't dawn on me that she might have been a witch until a few weeks later when Tyler called and said Elena's coffin was missing.

Bonnie nodded, "I figured as much."

"If I'd said something when it happened. If I'd called you or Tyler, we probably could've figured out what they were doing and moved her someplace safer."

"Why didn't you? Where have you been Jeremy? What have you been doing?" Jeremy had never been one to keep in contact, but over the past couple of years, the only person he'd made any effort to talk to was Tyler.

"Same thing I always do, I guess...running. It's easy to do when you're always so out of step with everything."

"Jeremy..."

"It's true, Bonnie. I never figure things out before it's too late. I focus on the wrong things, the wrong people for too long and by the time I figure it out..."

Bonnie's heart ached for him. In a lot of ways he was still that little emo stoner kid from long ago. The world stopped for all of them back then, but it never started up again for Jeremy. He never grew...he never changed. He just kept repeating the same mistakes over and over again and not just with their disaster of a relationship but with everything.

"You're still going to Mystic Falls, aren't you?" she asked quietly.

"Like I said, she's my sister. I got her into this mess so I have to try to get her out."

"But they'll catch you—"

"Maybe they will, maybe they won't. My luck's got to change sooner or later, right?" He placed his hands on her shoulders and smiled sadly when he saw her eyes brimming with tears.

"You save the world, Bonnie. I'll go save my sister." He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly, his chin resting atop her head. There was so much between them that hadn't been said, and it is only now that he realize that it doesn't need to be. He would always be her first love and she would always be the love he'd never been ready for.

Bonnie hugged him back. "Please be careful," she murmured into his shirt.

 **BKBKBKBK**

"So Gilbert the Younger is going to Mystic Falls alone?" Klaus asked, walking up to Bonnie as she watched the motorcycle Jeremy arrived on disappear into the distance.

"I tried to talk him out of it but I couldn't. She's his sister."

"That doesn't make it any less of a fool's errand, I'm afraid."

Bonnie smiled sadly. "Damon trapped Katherine in the tomb with the moonstone once. We didn't know how important it was at the time. But when we found out, we needed to get it back without releasing Katherine. The last time we dropped the barrier on the tomb, my Grams died. I was getting nosebleeds and passing out from overexertion. So Jeremy went behind everyone's back and entered the tomb to try get the moonstone away from Katherine himself. It was dangerous and it was stupid, but he did it because he didn't want me to hurt myself.

"When he found out that I'd die if I killed you, he did the only thing he could do: he told Stefan in hope that someone would stop me and find another way. And when I was in the prison world…when I was at a point so low that I locked myself in the Salvatore garage with Damon's car running and a video camera full of goodbyes, it was Jeremy Gilbert who opened the door. Remembering what my Grams said made me change my mind, but I saw Jeremy save me when I couldn't save myself. He can be childish, self-absorbed, stupid, passive aggressive and a lot more, but I know why I loved him. And I know why I think better of him than most."

Klaus drew her into his arms, feeling her relax against him. "If Jeremy Gilbert's existence contributed in any way to your being here, then we are all the better for it."

Bonnie smiled as they began to walk in silence.

"Sun's almost down and we have a wolf dinner to go to," she said after a while.

"I think it's just called dinner, love."

"Yes, but it's the first time I've had dinner with a werewolf pack and I suspect it's your first time too. So it's a wolf dinner," she replied as they veer off the path back to the house and headed into the woods and in hand.

"I spoke to Marcel, earlier," Klaus said finally.

"You did? How was that?" the witch asked, eyebrows raised.

"Better than you might expect, actually."

"He didn't try to kill you?"

Klaus smirked, "No.

"That _is_ better than I expected."

"It was a simple chat. Made more so by the lack of animosity. Perhaps the first in an attempt to begin anew, rather than pick up where we left off. Or perhaps I'm making too much of it and it was merely an attempt at civility."

"Hmm…my money's on the former."

"And why is that?"

"Because deep down Marcel still loves you. You're his father. That kind of love doesn't just go away regardless of the damage done. All you can do is wait for him to work through it and be there when he does. It's what I would have liked for either of parents to have done instead of always being the one trying to reach out. I think you no longer being in his Garden is exactly what he needs in order to heal because keeping you there certainly didn't."

"Perhaps," Klaus mused. "Though I suspect it will take a remarkable effort for him to do so."

"Of course it will, but he's your kid. If he's anything like his father, being remarkable comes naturally," she said, raising their joined hands to kiss his knuckles.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Before long Bonnie saw firelight in the distance and they came upon a pathway lined with torches.

The wolves had created their own temporary world. She assumed the RVs she saw scattered about belonged to the alphas. The rest was a field of tents of varying sizes and shapes. A monstrous fire pit had been dug in the center of their encampment. The trees that had been taken down to clear the space, were used for seating around the roaring blaze.

People milled around them, taking brief notice of their arrival as classic rock blared through speakers that had been strung up to hang from trees.

"I see you two made it," Frederick called, striding up to them. "Hope you don't mind what we've done with the place."

Bonnie smiled brightly, "No! Not at all. I think it's great. Probably should have something like this out here permanently anyway."

"Well come on, I'll show you two around."

Frederick's tour of the encampment eventually brought them to a secondary fire pit that was being used to roast deer on multiple spits. Neil stood closest to fire, bare chested, his bright blue hair damp and plastered to his head. He was armed with a large bottle of elderberry wine in one hand and had an unlit joint dangling from his lips.

"Hey, Bonnie…Klaus…" He called after lighting the cigarette and taking a drag.

"Wow, finally on a first name basis, huh?" the witch quipped good-naturedly.

"You've been invited amongst our packs. Kind of goes with the territory," the alpha shrugged, watching as the witch fidgeting beneath the multitude of gazes that fell on her.

"Don't mind them. Most of them are still a little mind-blown where you're concerned."

"Mind-blown?"

"Well, yeah. I mean there you are, living breathing proof that the Great Healer not only existed, she fucking lived here with our ancestors. I mean what's next? We're gonna find out the fucking Blue Fairy's legit too?"

"And here I thought that's who you were," Frederick smirked, grinning when the younger wolf flipped him off.

Neil took another drag before passing the joint to Bonnie and proceeding to splash the roasting meat with wine.

Bonnie took two quick hits before passing it off to Klaus. The hybrid took a long drag before passing it to the judge.

"Lambsbread?" Klaus asked, upon exhaling.

"They say Marley used to smoke it," Neil answered, nodding. "I believe em."

" _You should_ ," Klaus and Frederick said in unison, catching them both off guard.

Frederick clapped the hybrid on the shoulder. "Come on, we've got tons of coolers over there, let's get you two something to drink."

As Bonnie fished around in a cooler she could have easily fallen into, Klaus turned when he found Tyler at his elbow.

"What is it, Lockwood?"

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Klaus glanced over at Bonnie, who'd now been drawn into a conversation with several others, before moving off with the werewolf.

Tyler placed his hands on his hips and sighed. "Look, I hate your fucking guts and I don't see that changing."

Klaus folded his arms across his chest. "You say that as though I'm supposed to care."

"Yeah, I know you don't. But I do care about Bonnie and according to Stefan and Caroline, so do you."

" _Your point_?"

Tyler gritted his teeth. "The point is that Bonnie's chosen you for some god awful reason that's not my business. I just…" He struggled to find words that fit. "Just please be good to her. If there's anyone who doesn't deserve the hell you can bring…it's her."

The werewolf then moved off quickly before Klaus could respond, stalking off to an area of the encampment where many were gathered around what appeared to be a makeshift fighting ring. He watched as the werewolf snatch off his shirt and tossed it aside before disappearing into the crowd.

 **BKBKBKBK**

"Bonnie, if I didn't know any better I'd swear you were going to shift tomorrow night. You eat like a wolf," Neil remarked with a laugh.

"I can't help it. It's so good," the explained, cutting into the tender meat on her plate. She and Klaus sat on stumps with the alphas. The classic rock that had been piped through the speakers was gone, replaced by a group of werewolves near the fire pit bearing musical instruments of their own. They filled the night air with strains of folk songs, coaxing people from their perches to dance.

"Red meat and root vegetables," Neil explained, popping a morsel into his mouth. "Standard issue pre-shift fare."

"And likely the last time any of us will have it prepared by Neil here for a while." Chloe pointed out. She sat next to Tyler, sharing a plate.

"Why?" Klaus asked, drinking wine out a metal cup.

"Neil's probably choosing a mate tomorrow night," Erik explained.

"We don't know that," Neil muttered.

"You will if you want to be on Top Chef," James pointed out from her seat next to Frederick.

"Shut up, Jim."

"I'm sorry…what does mating and Top Chef have to do with one another?" Bonnie asked.

Chloe chuckled, "It isn't very often that all five packs have the opportunity to meet under the full moon. When we do, we call it the Wild Hunt. It's the only time we're able to come together as one pack as the Great Alpha intended," she explained. "Our wolves roam free but it also give us the opportunity to handle wolf business."

Bonnie's eyes widened, "Wolf business?"

"A few of the wolves here are still loners. Tomorrow night they may choose to submit to an alpha. If there are any pack members who wish to submit to a new alpha, they may do so as well. And it also happens to be the night that alphas choose mates, which is where Neil comes in."

Bonnie turned to the wolf in question, "You're choosing a mate so you can be on Top Chef?" She was trying hard to make sense of this and was still coming up empty.

"One of the obligations of an alpha is to be with his or her pack during the full moon. If he or she can't be there, then their mate stands in their place," Frederick said.

"And a season of Top Chef films for three months at least," James added.

Bonnie's mouth dropped open. "Are you saying that you're taking a mate tomorrow night so you'll have someone to fill in while you're on Top Chef?"

Neil nodded.

"But…but…don't wolves mate for life? I mean that's an awfully big commitment, Neil."

"Top Chef's worth it," Neil shrugged, causing the group to erupt in laughter.

When the mirth quieted down, Klaus asked, "What are you going to do during those three full moons you'll be living with unsuspecting culinary artists?"

"Once I became alpha of my pack, I commissioned a ring from a witch. It's not as powerful as the one your mother made for your father, but it does a good job of keeping the wolf under wraps when necessary," Neil answered.

"Speaking of which," James interrupted. "You'll want to make sure that both witches and vampires are safely indoors tomorrow night."

Bonnie nodded, "I'll speak to Marcel tomorrow. As for the witches, we're all going to be down in the caves for most of the night. I need to get them used to directly accessing the ley energy down there."

"The caves," Frederick mused. "Part of me still can't believe it. Here we are, descendants of those who lived on this land with your ancestor. Tomorrow night we will roam as they did a thousand years ago. And the night after that, we will help you finish the Great Healer's work. The spirits annoy, but they do appreciate symmetry."

Bonnie set her plate aside, taking Klaus's hand. She looked up at the night sky and felt the heat from the fire on her skin. The wolves' presence made the woods come alive in a way she hadn't experienced in the all the time she'd lived here.

"You all should come back," she said finally, earning confused looks all around here.

"This place means as much to you as it does to me. I know your packs are settled elsewhere, but you should come back here for your Wild Hunt at least. You're more than welcome, whenever you want." Bonnie hadn't planned to make such an invitation, but the rightness of it settled within her so quickly that she wondered why she hadn't thought of it sooner.

The alphas looked to each other, silently consulting on her offer before nodding their assent. "We would be honored," James said quietly.

"Which brings us to you… _Klaus_ ," Chloe announced.

After his conversation with Tyler, the Klaus had been more than cordial throughout the night, engaging in casual conversations with those curious enough to approach the Original Hybrid and son of the Great Alpha. Bonnie was right, he'd never spent so much time amongst his kind before. And while their level of scrutiny bothered, the wolf in him felt an ease he'd never experienced.

"What about me?" Klaus asked.

"Despite the fact that you have been…augmented by vampirism, you are still of our kind. Your father forged the path that we walk. And yet your crimes against our kind have been numerous. But it is as you said earlier: we are at a watershed moment; and no wolf is turned away from the Wild Hunt. You are welcome to join us and in so doing perhaps begin to begin again." She extended the cup to him.

"Honor the moon with your father's pack, Klaus."

Klaus stared at the cup held out for him and was reminded of the night he'd first kissed Bonnie. The night she convinced him of the ways in which he'd neglected a very integral part of himself. A part of himself that felt the witch squeeze his hand gently as he reached out and claimed his place among them.

 _A/N: So this chapter, as well as the next one are really about moving characters into position and planting certain seeds for the final bit of this story. The resolution of several story elements begins next chapter and needless to say, Klonnie is going to be very busy both separately and as a unit. And the next chapter will be huge for them on a lot of levels leading into the final three chapters of this fic. I still can't believe this thing is almost done and I just started writing it four months ago. YAY!_

 _On another note. I just want to say that the Klonnie fandom is pretty small and as a result, we're all reading each other's stuff. Considering how little we have to work with canonically with Klonnie, it makes sense that there's going to be overlap in what we write. I think that's where our creativity comes in, to take that commonality and express it in our own way. I also think that we can and often do become inspired by the original story elements of others, and that's fine too. I have and had zero problem saying that a scene in one of my chapters was inspired by a drabble written by another Klonnie writer. I think that by doing that, I'm not only acknowledging her work but also maybe providing encouragement to keep producing more. Which is something fic writers need, especially in fandoms our size. I just think that's the right thing to do as creatives and I don't think that acknowledging that takes away from anything I'm doing._

 _So I would just ask that the writers among us take that into consideration because the more we encourage and support each other as Klonnie writers, the more content that's likely to be produced. For instance, I was extremely hesitant about posting a fic at all because I've heard the horror stories about people having elements of their stories lifted and how it's driven people to start writing on more secure platforms or stop writing for fandoms altogether. But I decided to do it anyway because I was encouraged to do so by another Klonnie writer. And I continue to be encouraged by other Klonnie writers and writers in other fandoms as well and it means a lot to someone that's putting their content out there, especially for the first time. This isn't a popularity contest and it shouldn't be. We're all just producers and consumers of art that celebrates a ship we love. And as a producer, there's nothing wrong with acknowledging the producers to the left and the right of you when appropriate because we're all in it for the same reasons. Right?_

 _Anyway, that was my moment on my soapbox._

 _Thank you all for your reads and follows. I really appreciate them and hope that you're enjoying this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it. By the way, there's another Klonnie fic on the horizon (the first chapter is almost done) after Truth Teller is complete. I really didn't want to start another fic before finishing this one because I don't like keeping multiple balls in the air. But I think this story is really cute and my muse wouldn't leave me alone about it. So if that first chap gets finished before T T is complete, I may or may not post it early. It's going to be a Klonnie AU AH and decidedly lighter as far as tone and I doubt that it will be as long so keep an eye out for that if you're interested._


	22. The Old Ways

**The Old Ways**

 **A/N: After reading Chapter 19, someone requested a warning. This is your warning.**

They were dancing.

Once Klaus accepted Chloe's invitation to join them on the Wild Hunt the following night, their evening among the werewolves continued with he and Bonnie joining a rapt audience as the alphas each retold tales of Ansel and Ayanna, taking requests from those in attendance. An oral history of the pack from whence they descended and the witch who'd repeatedly come to their aid.

The stories of Ansel felt like the simple retellings of historical events. How his wolf was unleashed, how he unified the packs, how he and this unified pack came to coexist with their Viking neighbors for a time. It was clear that the wolves of the five packs had heard these stories a thousand times over, but that did not stop the questions from being called out regarding one detail or another. The questions gave the alphas a chance to engage in nuanced speculative discourse about the motivations of their hallowed leader. If their stories were any indication, Ansel was by no means perfect, having made his share of questionable decisions.

But the prevailing theme of his life was his earnest endeavor to have man and beast live in balance within him. To his mind, such a balance required meeting the needs of both; living in a way that edifies both. It was a belief adopted by his pack and eventually adopted by numerous other packs upon submitting to him as alpha. This shared endeavor became the foundation upon which the old ways were built. Their laws may have changed over the centuries, but the goal has remained intact. It is what sets them apart from the multitude of werewolves that make up the Northeast Atlantic Pack.

Where stories of Ansel grounded these wolves in the realities of who and what they were, the stories of Ayanna were filled with wonder. It was Ayanna who built an invisible wall to hold back flood waters that threatened to drown their village. It was Ayanna who travelled to the Other Side and brought back several of their children. It was Ayanna who spoke to the spirits with the regularity of a dear friend and expanded their knowledge of the magical properties of the world around them. She arrived from across the seas and became a friend to them. And though she brought with her those who would lead to their undoing, she'd remained a true friend to their kind.

Klaus sat with his arms around Bonnie as she sat between his legs and listened with eyes wide. The stories of Ansel were of course new to him, painting a picture of someone he'd only spent moments with in his entire life. To hear him brought to life by those so far removed from the time when he walked the earth as their alpha was strange to say the least. To hear the impact his life had on generations pointed to one incontrovertible fact. That despite being cut down by Mikael—and being cut down by him—his father had achieved something that neither he nor Mikael had been able to:

A legacy. A living, breathing legacy. The Northeast as a whole were what remained of Ansel's unified pack. But the wolves assembled here made up only a small fraction of the whole, carrying with them all that Ansel was, committed to passing it down to those who came after. This was-in part-what Klaus had hoped to create for himself when he'd begun making hybrids. His thoughts drift toward the notion of what his legacy would have been had his plans been successful and he's filled with a rather uncanny sense of relief that he'd failed.

And then his little witch is tugging him to his feet, insisting on a dance before returning to the main house; leading him closer to the fire by entwined fingers.

It's in these moments, when his face is hidden in her neck and her slender fingers graze the curls at his nape that his mind focuses on the future within his grasp. It is one that he and Bonnie have discussed more than once. After the battle is won and Bonnie's home is set to rights, he will journey to Vermont to reunite with Hope and Haley. Once Haley reveals the location of his siblings, they will retrieve them and return to this place.

Klaus intended to be gone only a few days, but Bonnie insisted that he forego that plan.

" _What are you suggesting, Bonnie?" The witch had awakened before sunrise to find his head between her thighs. And after the rigorous bout of lovemaking that followed, they'd lain in bed and discussed what they always seemed to discuss of late:_

 _Their future._

" _I'm suggesting that you have a daughter who doesn't know you," Bonnie replied, her index finger tracing the flock of birds tattooed across his shoulder. "The last time she saw you, she was still in diapers. I'm suggesting that no matter how well her mother speaks of you, it will be up to you to make that relationship real."_

" _And I intend to once we've returned here—"_

" _But why wait? That's not something you can afford to do, Nik. Take it from someone who had a father that put everything else above her: You don't want to blow past this. Going up there should be about reconnecting with your daughter. She's going to need time to adjust to having you in her life again before uprooting her from everything that she knows. That's not something you can do on a timetable."_

 _Klaus sighed in exasperation, "That could take weeks…months…"_

" _I know_ _. But it'll be worth it in the end, I promise. A lot of parents put off what's important promising to make up for it later. But there is no later when it comes to your kids, or at least there shouldn't be. Later isn't guaranteed and if it never comes, all you're left with is right now. And right now, your daughter doesn't know you the way she should. That's something that needs to change sooner rather than later."_

" _And what about you?"_

" _What about me? I'll be here. I need to figure out what I'm going to do with this place and look into cures for your brothers and sisters. Maybe I can even convince Marcel to help."_

 _Klaus snorted, his hand gently squeezing her bare hip. "That's not likely."_

 _Bonnie shrugged, "Can't hurt to ask."_

 _Klaus quieted, "I am not in any way fond of the idea of being without you."_

" _I know. But this is your family."_

 _Klaus tilted her chin up with a lone finger, his eyes serious. "As are you."_

 _The witch's face lit up with her smile before she planted a kiss on the column of his neck. "I know. But this needs to happen, Nik. And it needs to happen the right way and that involves making sure Hope is ok first. Tell me I'm wrong."_

 _The hybrid grumbled as he rolled Bonnie beneath him._ _Of course she was right._ _He thought of all the moments of his daughter's life he'd missed. He was barely invested during Haley's pregnancy and after her birth, he'd sent her to live with Rebekah in order to keep her safe. But when she returned, everything took precedence over time spent with her. If he wasn't battling resurrected or newly discovered family, he was hell bent on securing and maintaining his hold on New Orleans. Even after he'd had her mother cursed into wolf form, he didn't offer his presence to fill the void left by her._

 _It pained him to know that Elijah represented all that was familiar and stable for his infant daughter, and yet he'd done nothing to change it._

 _Klaus looked down into the witch's smiling face, tracing her features with his thumb. "You are not wrong," he said, quietly. "And it is more than a bit disconcerting to find wisdom in one as young as you."_

" _I'm almost thirty, Nik," Bonnie pointed out, laughing._

" _A babe…barely out of swaddling clothes, love." he drawled._

 _Bonnie gasped in mock offense, "Is that so?" She hooked her leg around his waist, "Don't let hyperbole cause you to strike out, hybrid," she teased, already feeling him beginning to lengthen and harden against her anew._

" _Never," he growled, his lips descending upon hers as his ears filled her giggles._

He thinks of this with Bonnie in his arms; his hold on her hips keeping his hands from roaming as they dance to a slow rhythm set by drums and a sweetly singing violin.

Bonnie tilted her head to get a look at him. "You ok?" She asks, her eyes illuminated by firelight.

Over a millennia of blood and chaos lay behind him, and yet before him lay a reunion with his daughter, the restoration of his siblings, a tentative cease fire with Marcel and the love of his life in his arms.

"I'm a great deal better than I probably should be," he replied quietly, planting a kiss on her forehead.

 **BKBKBKBK**

"I'm just really against any variety of pink, Bonnie."

"I'm right there with you, Stefan. _I like pink_ …just not on a wedding theme scale. I don't want to run the risk of looking like cotton candy."

"So what do we do? She's not budging on this champagne/ _rosé_ business."

"Well what would you go for other than pink?" They were standing in the field behind the main house near midday.

Stefan thought for a moment before sighing in exasperation. He didn't know and he didn't care. He just wanted to _marry_ her, dammit. "Blue. I could go for blue."

Bonnie nodded, "Now you and I both know that a wedding is 40% celebration of a new loving union and 60% vanity project, right?"

"Right."

"So when you pitch blue to Caroline, make sure that you're appealing to that 60%." She looked around when she felt Vincent approach.

The Regent arrived with several dozen witches in tow. "You asked for 54 of my strongest, so here they are," he said, motioning to the group behind him. The bulk of the nine covens were occupied with creating weapons and gathering the necessary items for Bonnie's prison world spell.

Bonnie turned to leave when Stefan's hand on her elbow stopped her.

"Bonnie," he began hesitantly. "When you called us and told us to make our way back here, you said you and I would have a talk. The main event is tomorrow night. We need to have that talk."

Bonnie swallowed hard, nodding. It had been a little over two weeks since they'd arrived. A knot formed in her stomach at the thought of how long Stefan had been waiting. They'd made this agreement two years ago, and yet the thought of having to do it pulled at her heart and made following through the last thing she wanted to do.

"You're right…you're right. Let's…let's do it tomorrow morning," she said pulling him into a hug.

 **BKBKBKBK**

"Ok…so thanks to a few of Marcel's vampires, we've been able to determine that this area is directly above the ley pool," Bonnie explained to the witches assembled. They sat in a wide circle around her she walked and spoke.

"This is where I'll be doing the spells tomorrow night," she continued. "So I wanted to run down the sequence of events going on back here so that we're all on the same page." While Vincent was committed to coordinating their magical defense, he and Bonnie had met frequently to brainstorm on the prison world and the parameters that would need to be set for it using the fifth spell.

"Because of this area's proximity to the ley pool, the circle we lay here will be to open a portal to the astral. Now once the portal is opened, I'll need to cast the four spells that actually create the world. At that point, the only thing that should be crossing that circle is Bob. Because anything inside the circle while the portal is open technically isn't here anymore."

Her eyes landed on Vincent as she walked around. "So no matter what you see going on in there, no one can enter. No human, no vampire, no werewolf, _no hybrid_. No one. Got it?"

A hand on the other side of the circle shot up. "I thought there were five spells."

"There are, but I can't cast the fifth spell until Bob's in the circle and I've stabbed him with Tunde's blade. Now once I've done all that, I just need to close the portal and we've got one ancient evil permanently on ice."

Another hand raised, "What if he's in more than one vessel? You said he could invade more than one person at a time."

Bonnie nodded. "He can. But even if he's inhabiting multiple vessels, they all still make up a whole. If I yank you around by the arm, your body's going to move in the same direction. It's the same thing here. If Bob's in multiple vessels and one of them steps foot into the circle, the rest will be evacuated and return to the whole."

She scanned the faces of those seated, searching for unasked questions. Finding none, she continued.

"Now the reason you all are here is because you are some of the strongest of the Nine Covens. Everyone else has been assigned to triage and defense during the battle. But you guys are going to be the middlemen. You are going to pull from the ley energy below and channel it into your brothers and sisters on the front lines." With the amount of magic she expected to be thrown around on both sides, depleted witches were a certainty.

Even if their magic is augmented by doppelganger blood and the celestial event, Bonnie still knows from experience that the mortal body of a witch can only take so much before tapping out. The witches of the Nine Coven were bonded to one another and therefore these 54—six taken from each of the covens—would serve as backup power sources allowing additional power to flow through them and into their covens.

"So what we're going to work on now, is getting you accustomed to drawing from a source this old _and_ this close." She motioned for everyone to stand.

"Now please believe me," she went on after all were standing. "This stuff's pretty potent. So when you make contact—"

"Ms. Bennett," a voice spoke up. Bonnie's eyes landed on an older woman.

"While we may not have your pedigree, we do know how to pull energy, thank you." The woman's tone was dry and her eyes were hard.

Bonnie nodded, "Ok. Fair enough. How about everyone get themselves settled and on the count of three we'll all give a tug and see where we are." She made certain to keep her tone light and closed her eyes.

She allowed her magic to unfurl and flow through her body and down to the soles of her feet. She felt it coil downward through the soil and into the earth, sensing the many other tendrils of magic beginning downward journeys of their own. When she felt them all nearing the pool, she spoke:

"Ok…on the count of three. One…two…three."

She pulled on the ley energy, allowing it to mingle with her own. The sensation was something that would never get old. To feel as though your entire body were filling with pure light. To feel it clinging to every cell of your being, infusing it with power. Right now, she was drawing on a relatively small amount. But tomorrow night, she would not only access the energy here, she would do as Qetsiyah had done in building the Other Side and draw from the entire network of lines that crisscrossed the earth. If she ventured to guess, she'd be drawing on enough power to activate ten Expression Triangles and resurrect a boyfriend ten times over.

Believing the witches around her received ample time to make connections of their own, she opened her eyes in time to see them all land on their asses; the potency of the ley energy like a rush of blood to the head. She listened as they groaned in complaint, their heads shaking to clear their vision. Her eyes found the older woman who'd objected to her instructions.

"So like I was saying; none of you have pulled on energy this potent _or_ this close. So let's give you guys a few minutes to pull yourselves together and try again, ok?" She'd make sure that they keep doing this over and over until every one of them could draw from the energy below with ease.

 **BKBKBKBK**

"Where are they heading off to so early?" Stefan asked, coming to stand next to Klaus. They watched as droves of werewolves began a retreat into the woods.

"Their alphas arranged it with Caroline. The hours before the full moon can make a wolf quite irritable in mixed company. Best to let them kick off early and reduce the chance of an altercation."

"You going to be out there with them tonight?" The vampire asked.

"I've been invited to join them, yes."

Stefan nodded, "But you'll be back in the morning?"

Klaus smiled wryly "Are you attempting to harness me with one of Caroline's schedules?"

The vampire chuckled dryly. "No, it's not that. It's just that a few years ago, Bonnie and I agreed that if the time came when we had to say goodbye to Damon and Enzo, we'd do it together. We're doing it tomorrow morning."

"Just the two of you?"

Stefan shrugged, "We're the only ones around that still care about either of them at this point. The way I figure it, Bonnie will need your around after."

Klaus nodded, absorbing the vampire's words. When he'd heard Bonnie mention a talk she needed to have with Stefan more than once prior to his arrival. He'd suspected that this was the nature of it.

What he knows of Enzo he learned from Bonnie. And with the exception of his time with her, he seemed to have led a rather miserably unfortunate life both as human and as a vampire. The elder Salvatore on the on the other hand chose to waste the nearly two centuries of life he'd been given. If he wasn't pining over Katherine, he was jumping off cliffs for Elena or making his brother's life miserable.

After tomorrow night, they would both be gone with none to mark their passing with any sadness save Bonnie and Stefan. Damon Salvatore and Lorenzo St. John stood as a cautionary tale about how one can be given more years than anyone deserves and yet still come away with practically nothing to show for it. The thought of how perilously close he'd come to achieving a similar fate unsettled him.

"We all know what needs to be done tomorrow night," Klaus began. "Are you prepared for it?"

Stefan snorted. "Prepared? I don't know. How prepared can you be for the reality that you might end up being the one to kill your own brother?" It's a thought that's been sitting in his mind since arriving in Maryland.

The vampire and hybrid watched as the wolves continue to file by.

"He blamed me, you know," Stefan started. "For ruining his life. If I hadn't forced the transition on him, he would have died and wouldn't have spent the next century and a half trying to destroy his humanity. Now it's gone for good." He fell silent again, his thoughts drifting to his brother.

Damon spent decades breaking down the young man he'd been and building up a demon he believed worthy of Katherine Pierce's love. After finding out how fruitless his endeavor had been, he then spent the next handful of years breaking down the demon and building up someone he believed worthy of Elena's love. And yet he'd put nearly none of that effort into himself for the sake of himself.

"Maybe…maybe tomorrow night Damon finds whatever peace I denied him," the vampire mused.

Klaus smiled ruefully. Guilt was still second nature to the vampire. "In order for Esther to bind my wolf, I needed to be restrained. My brother and the only man I'd known as my father chained me down so that the woman who birthed me could imprison the very core of who I am. That Mikael was involved was no surprise, neither was the spinelessness of my own mother. But Elijah… _Elijah was the surprise_." The hybrid accepted the small flask Stefan pulled from his jacket.

"For all his talk of nobility, morality and valor; that he could take part in such an act against his own brother surprised even him, I think. And the guilt that came from the deed bound him to me in a way that family mottos never could. His quest for my redemption became his penance and I had very little problem making sure he paid it, knowing that his efforts would amount to nothing."

Stefan took the flask when offered, "He betrayed you."

"And you betrayed Damon." Klaus answered simply. "But let's be clear here: Your crime was forcing long life on your brother. Damon's crime was in squandering it. His choices are his own, Stefan. He could have chosen to go for a midday stroll leaving his daylight right stuffed in a settee. He could have chosen to desiccate for eternity. He could have chosen not to pin his entire happiness on one face. He chose none of those, and you would be no more to blame for it if he'd done otherwise."

Stefan frowned, "I'm not sure this is making me feel better, Klaus."

"Perspective is the point, not feeling better, Stefan. There is no feeling better because the loss of a beloved sibling is a pain unlike any other. You don't need to add to it with unnecessary guilt. Mourn your brother tomorrow. Don't mourn his choices."

 **BKBKBKBK**

Bonnie closed the grimoire before her with a thud and sighed. It didn't take long for the witches Vincent selected to adjust to connecting with the ley energy beneath them. They then spent the next few hours working with it, using it to try and detect any weaknesses in the defenses that were being set up.

It had been both unfamiliar and comforting to have so many witches around. Bonnie's experience working with other witches was limited and ended badly more often than not. Despite that, she can see how well the covens work together. There's an eagerness in their work; born from the novelty of using their gifts for an actual purpose rather than being bullied or manipulated into using them for another's gain.

By the time she finished with them, the sun was beginning to set and they were all buzzing with energy and Bonnie knew exactly how most of them intended to burn it off as she saw them pairing off with other coven members before heading to the barracks.

She couldn't blame them. It was certain that not everyone was going to survive tomorrow night. To spend tonight remembering what it means to be alive made more sense than anything else.

If Nik were there she'd be doing the same thing.

Instead, she retreated to the Bennett Archive poring over the prison world spells. Practicing the incantations, rehearsing the hand movements until her eyes began to cross and her fingers began to cramp. Taking that as a clear sign to stop, she headed to her room.

After she showered and donned a nightgown, she crept downstairs to the kitchen. Stefan, Caroline, Marcel and Vincent had all retired for the evening, leaving the main house still despite its many inhabitants.

She raided the fridge, retrieving a container of cold chicken. The first bite was about to enter her mouth when she felt it.

The bond.

Her awareness of Klaus was getting stronger by the day. Tonight she even felt what she believed to be the moment when he began to shift. He'd been in pain, but it was a welcomed pain, having a sense of relief woven throughout.

But now he was close. Closer than he should be. The wolves' encampment was deep in the woods surrounding them. She set her fork down and reached out with her magic, trying to determine if the packs had somehow found their way back to this area, only to find that the hybrid was alone.

Alone and calling for her.

 **BKBKBKBK**

They were running.

It was an easy pace as the wolves around him moved with one mind, one purpose. They'd caught the strong scent of prey in the distance and after a series of vocalizations, they'd fanned out, stretching the field in order to surround and strike. Claw marks in trees along with bark crudely rubbed off told them of what they would find. A sampling of the air whispers to them that they were also in season. Ears finely tuned, detected rushing water.

It was not long before they saw them.

Bears. Drawn to a stream by the fish it contains. Known to travel alone, they will congregate when a food supply is so plentiful.

The wolves descend on them like a wave, cutting off the water as a means of escape. They attacked, with the taste of meat and blood at the forefront of their minds. Their prey scattered, attempted to take to the trees only to be dragged down.

He spots on of the largest of them, holding several of his kind at bay, swiping and raging at them. They have it hemmed in, yet none of them knowing how to go in for the kill.

One lunges forward only to be knocked back viciously while the others maintained their positions.

Having seen enough, he leaps into the fray, barreling into the beast. He tangles violently with it, his jaws seeking out its throat. Finding purchase, his teeth sink into the coarse black fur, piercing flesh. He clamps down hard, feeling the beast's blood coating his muzzle and streaming down his throat. He hangs on as the beast struggled and thrashed, finally feeling it shudder in its death throes.

Once dead, he tore into the bear's body intent to claim its heart for his own.

Thinking to claim part of the kill as well, the wolves near him drew closer. He rounded on them, teeth bared and snarling. His body trembled with all the power that made him what he was and he growled his anger at the offense. The wolves fell back slightly, seeming uncertain if they should press their attempt despite the danger.

He returned to his kill, finding the heart and feasting on it. Once gone, he found the wolves were now crouched low, their bellies touching the ground. Having taken what he wanted, a sharp bark gave them leave to feed on what was left of his prize.

With his need to hunt and feed satisfied, his mind cleared. The great pack had taken down every bit of prey. Some were feeding, some had fled in search of new prey and others…

His nostrils flared as he turned and raced into the darkness, leaving the sounds of the wild hunt behind him.

 **BKBKBKBK**

He was somewhere on the other side of the door. Her late night snack abandoned, Bonnie walked to the front door and stood, her fingers wrapped around the handle. Not knowing if she would find wolf or man, she hesitated for a moment before realizing that she couldn't muster apprehension for either.

The torrent of feeling being sent through the bond was near staggering. The familiar ache in her chest, near painful, she swallowed hard before opening the door and stepping out into the night air.

She allowed the bond to guide her on bare feet along the cobblestone and onto the soft and dampening field, the hem of her nightgown whispering around her calves. The chill of the air did not touch her skin as her magic warmed her, feeling like lightning flashing through her veins.

She turned to the tree line as Klaus stepped out into the moonlight.

He was naked.

His skin was awash in the pale blue of the moonlight and bore streaks of dirt from his transformation; highlighting toned muscles that tense and flexed with each breath.

Never before has she felt his wolf's presence upon him more strongly; the lupine aspects of his nature emanating from him in waves. The very form and figure of all that is as wild and dark as the woods from which he emerged.

She is about to speak when his growl reaches her ears, silencing her while calling to the ancient power that flows through her veins. He calls to the magic within her that remembers a time when a witch's only armor were the symbols painted on their skins. A time when blood, breath and bare hands were all that was needed to create wonders. A time when her kind were seen as forces of nature, rather than servants of it.

Her heart begins to pound once she realizes why he is here. And while her breath catches and her skin flushes with the knowledge that he wants this of her… _that he wants her_ , the magic in her— _the witch in her_ —knows that the staking and accepting of such a claim is no small matter. Not for beings of such power. _Not for them_.

She doesn't move when he closes the yards of distance between them in an instant, towering over her. Golden eyes lingered on her face as his nostrils flared, breathing her in.

Bonnie reached up to touch his face. Her hand is hot, but it does not burn. Instead, it is her magic that he can feel sliding across his flesh leaving pinpricks of pain in its wake. He growled low at the sensation, leaning into her touch; daring her to test his resolve.

He wants her life joined to his and he won't stop until it is so.

The sound rumbling up from his chest is like beacon, setting off a quivering in her core as she rose to meet him.

What began as pinpricks along his skin, flares into a sensation that harkens back to their first visit to the caves. The feeling of being crushed by an overabundance of magic has returned full force; the source of it not the ley pool beneath them, but the witch whose kiss is burning itself into his memory.

His hands wrap vice-like around her arms, and he yanks her body flush against him; withstanding the magic that has begun to roll off of her, beating against his body. The sharp gasp the movement pulls from her, allows him to deepen the kiss. Her magic sparks against his tongue as he plunders her mouth.

The pain is stirring. The fact that Bonnie's the one inflicting it, even more so when their lips are folding upon one another urgently. The scent of her arousal causes him to nip her full bottom lip, drawing blood. She is a drop of fire on his tongue as she moans into his mouth.

The true length and breadth of his possessiveness…the territoriality in her regard has been held at bay for her sake, but no longer. Not when he can feel the same rising within her as well.

Bonnie tears his lips from his, her lungs burning. She's suddenly across the field with her back pressed against a tree in the time it takes to draw a full breath.

With his body keeping her in place, Klaus is at her neck in an onslaught of open mouthed kisses; his hands gripping and kneading the flesh at her hips. His lips and hands are stinging as magic crackles from her skin and seeps into his; exploring him in search of a destination.

Bonnie feels his length pressed hard against her as she wraps her arms around his shoulders, fingernails raking across his skin.

The fabric of her nightgown has become an annoyance and with a sharp yank becomes a tattered ruin on the ground.

Klaus' hands find the backs of Bonnie's supple thighs, lifting her up as his lips cover a taut nipple. She's wet and he can feel the heat of her core as she writhes against him. His hold on her is not gentle in any way and the bark of the tree digs into her back; the pain serving to release some of the pressure his body is building within her.

She hisses at the sting of her panties being roughly torn from her; only to sigh in relief when her folds slide along his shaft as he grinds himself against her. Her hands form tiny fists in his hair as her lips find his again.

 _This isn't enough_. She needs more of him, she _demands_ more of him as her magic continues to pour into him; seeking and finding the source of their bond. The inherent magic that created it and tethers her to him.

Klaus' grip on her tightens at the sensation, as does hers in response and soon he's lowering her onto his cock; his mouth swallowing her gasp as he fills her.

Bonnie locks her ankles around his waist as he steps away from the tree and begins to thrust deeply, her body jolted by each stroke; palming the fullness of her ass with both hands, his fingers digging in.

Her walls caressing him causes his eyes to roll closed as he begins to guide her hips in easy strokes. Every moan and cry he wrings from her echoing into the night; the sounds of their union melting into the landscape.

Golden eyes find green and she can feel her magic begin latch on to his as if by tiny hooks. The simple intermingling of the two suffuses her with what can only be described as an echo. A mere hint of what it is to have power such as his, causing her walls to clamp down on his cock at its impact. She cries out at its unexpectedness, her hips furiously riding out her release.

Klaus' knees nearly buckle as he in kind is struck with a mere taste of how it feels to have spirit magic infusing every cell of your being. He lowers her to the ground, her back making contact with moist earth. She still quivers around him as his hips set a new rhythm; driving deep before slowly withdrawing. Bonnie's hands claw at his back, her knees pressed to his sides.

They both feel the moment the bond flares open to its widest point, creating a channel through which their magic flows to one another. A primal awareness causes the hybrid to withdraw from the witch; the same causing her to roll onto her knees, her head near the ground.

Klaus eyes narrowed; his jaw slackened and his mouth watered at the sight. The trees cast shadows across her skin as she knelt, the perfect globes of her ass lifted high; her opening damp and glistening.

Where she expected to find Klaus sliding himself into her, she instead found the hybrid's face pressed to her heat. The scruff of his cheeks nuzzled her as he inhaled; lapping hungrily at her wetness, leaving her thighs shaking and her breathing heavy.

Klaus rose to one knee, positioning himself behind her. He entered her swiftly, grabbing a handful of her hair and pulling taut. The staccato of his thrusts turned Bonnie's core molten as her fingers dug deeply into the earth. The magic passing through the bond was building along with the hybrid's movements.

He pulled her up, her back pressed to his chest as he continued his onslaught. His hand found her breasts, crushing them in his palms. Bonnie's hand reached to wrap around the back of his neck; pulling his head down.

Seeing the skin between her neck and shoulder, Klaus' canines descend, piercing her tender flesh. Bonnie cried out in pain and Klaus' arm wrapped around her waist like an iron band, his cock still pumping into her at a now furious pace.

Bonnie's fingernails dug into the side of his neck, holding him in place; her magic cutting him deep as they come together. The intensity of their release magnified by the hardening, the deepening, the reinforcing of the bond. What once could have been painfully yet cleanly severed at any point, now stood set in stone. The magical manifestation of a mating between two unlike any other.

Klaus gently released Bonnie's flesh from his teeth, her body still shuddering. He felt her magic unlatch from his and retreat more gently than it entered, causing him to release a ragged breath. He bent over his mate and held her to him, his body trembling as they rolled onto their sides, spooning. The earth beneath them still warm from their mating and the night air a balm to their fevered skin.

Klaus' eyes centered on the bloody bite mark at her shoulder and moved to give her blood from him wrist.

Bonnie's hand stopped him.

"No," she panted. "That's a scar I actually want," she explained, chuckling weakly.

The hybrid's eyes, gleamed at her words, his own fingers feeling where she'd dug her nails into his neck. The tiny wounds had healed, but left four tiny crescent shaped scars in their wake.

The witch had marked him.

"Likewise, my love," he said, holder her closer as he looked to the sky, the full moon still high above them.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Klaus awakened to sunlight peeking through their bedroom curtains. After they'd collected themselves, he'd flashed them up to their bedroom window. They stumbled into the shower, washing each other's bodies only to end up with Bonnie's back pressed against wet tiles as the hybrid took her gently; whispering desires in her ear that left her gasping and clinging to him for dear life.

They lay spooned together, Bonnie's breathing deep and even as she slept. Klaus' finger lightly grazed the white bandage that covered the bite on her left shoulder. _His mate_. The thought warmed him as he drew her body closer to his.

A knock at the door drew him from his thoughts. Bonnie murmured incoherently before snuggling further beneath the covers. A second knock pulled him from their bed and had him reaching for his robe.

Expecting to find Stefan or Caroline on the other side of the door, he was surprised to see Chloe's face when he partially opened it.

"We need to talk," she said. " _Now_." Her whiskey colored eyes were hard as stone as they glared at him.

Frowning at her manner, he followed her downstairs to the conference room. The other alphas were present along with seven other wolves he recalled seeing in their encampment at some point. The seven eyed him cautiously and he couldn't shake the feeling that he somehow knew them better than he should.

"Alright," Klaus began, irritated. "What's this about?"

"What do you remember about last night?" Chloe demanded.

"Well that depends on whether or not it's any of your business," the hybrid replied, smoothly.

"We know you took off," the alpha said, pointedly. "What we need to know is what you did while you were still with us." There was an edge of uneasiness to her voice as she began to pace.

Klaus sighed, thinking back to the night before. The shift from man to wolf is a complete one, making the processing of memories difficult for either aspect as their ability to perceive is also affected. He remembers the hunt. Running with senses heightened, seeking and finding prey. He remembers a small cluster of wolves advancing on him, intent on taking the prize he'd won.

"I shifted, I ran and I caught a bear. Oh and a handful of wolves were foolish enough to try and take it from me."

Chloe's pacing stilled. "What happened then?"

" _Well I didn't kill them_. Merely gave them a sound rebuke for their impertinence." He remembers seeing them down, their bellies flat against the earth.

"Oh my God..." Chloe moaned, slapping a palm to her forehead as she looked toward the other alphas. "Then what happened?"

"I fed...and then I permitted them to have what was left. No hard feelings and all that." He tilted his head. "Now would any of you care to tell me the purpose of this little inquiry?"

Chloe walked over to the seven wolves, pointing to each one.

"This is Charlie, Vera, Luke, Hazel, Tyrone, Roland and Kurt," she announced.

Klaus sighed in boredom. "Splendid... _why_ should I care?"

Chloe was in his face a moment later, gritting her teeth.

" _Because they're your new pack_."

_  
A/N: This definitely took longer than I wanted to post. But I really hope you enjoyed it. Smut slows me down apparently plus this update has a lot going on. Needless to say that now Klaus finds himself in a bit of a situation LOL

I'm so glad people like my wolves! I wanted the way they interact to be different from what we're used to seeing from the werewolves on TVD/TO (not that we saw a whole lot).

Anyway, next chapter we say goodbye to loved ones and the enemy arrives.

Thank you all for the reviews! I'm keeping this A/N short because I finally have to do that S7 Defan rewatch along with some research on battle formations (Yeah it's like that LOL)


	23. The End Is The Beginning

**The End Is the Beginning**

 _Jeremy's eyes opened slowly, needing time to adjust to the dim light. The cold emanating from the concrete floor he lay upon was beginning to seep into his body, chilling him. He was in a cell. He was in the Salvatore cellar. His body felt bruised and battered as he tried to sit up, remembering how he'd gotten there in the first place._

 _He'd entered Mystic Falls under cover of night and made his way to the boardinghouse undetected. He'd watched the house for several hours with no sign of Elena. From what he could see, everyone was gearing up to leave. Most likely to begin the journey to Maryland. With so many bodies coming and going, it had been easy to slip inside and blend in. But still no sign of Elena. He had managed to check the entire first floor and was about to make his way to the second when he felt himself suddenly come to a complete stop. He could move or think. He could only feel as he felt himself being knocked to the ground and kicked until everything went black._

 _Bonnie had been right. They'd caught him. And he was no closer to discovering his sister's whereabouts._

 _A weak and pain-filled groan came from the shadows of the farthest wall. Jeremy turned wincingly to find its source._

 _She was sitting in the corner, her knees drawn up to her chest. Her head was bowed with the dark curtain of her hair hiding her face._

" _Hello…?" He called out weakly, his ears picking up her faint breathing._

" _Jer…Jeremy?" She called, her voice raw._

" _Elena?" He gingerly crawled closer to her. What was she doing in here? Bonnie said that the witches were using her for her blood, but that she seemed well. So why had she been tossed into the cellar? Had they used her up and cast her aside?_

 _The doppelganger raised her tear stained face. Her skin was cold and clammy to the touch, her breathing shallow._

" _I'm going to get us out of here, ok?" He had no idea how, but Elena was trembling so violently in his arms that he felt the need to reassure her. To calm her down so he could find out exactly what she was doing down there._

 _Elena was already shaking her head numbly. "No…you can't…it's too late for us."_

" _Don't say that. We've been in worse fixes than this right?"_

" _We had Bonnie then; she's not here now," Elena answered, her throat dry and raspy._

" _I know. But we don't need Bonnie to get out of this. We just need to think."_

 _Elena's hands curled into fists, grabbing Jeremy's shirt. "No…no you're wrong…I need Bonnie."_

 _Jeremy watched in dawning horror as black sclera formed around the doppelganger's eyes. He struggled to free himself from her hold, but her hands had become like iron._

" _I do need Bonnie, dear boy. And it's about time I go and get her," Elena explained before pulling him to her roughly, fangs descending._

 _Jeremy felt his body lift before his back slammed into the concrete floor. Teeth tore into the flesh of his throat as he heard her drink greedily._

 _His body grew cold quickly as the thoughts in his head began to fade into darkness; the very last of which wondering if he ever really expected this to end any other way._

 _Elena's head snapped up at the sound of the cell door opening. Damon leaned on the doorway, his face a picture of boredom as he folded his arms across his chest._

" _Let me guess…transition complete?" he asked lightly._

" _Oh indeed!" The sensation that came with occupying a vessel during its transition to vampire was quite unlike anything he'd felt to date. "Where's Enzo?"_

 _Damon's eyes rolled, "Off somewhere…sulking."_

 _Elena's mouth turned down in a pout as he thought of his recently vacated vessel. His departure had been abrupt, offering none of the gentleness upon leaving that he'd provided for Damon. But when an opportunity presents itself, there should never be a delay-no matter how uncomfortable._

" _Poor dear…I'll make it up to him after. In the meantime…what do you think of my new duds?"_

 _Damon looked down into the brightly smiling face that once belonged to Elena Gilbert, the lower half covered in the blood of her brother. Jeremy's sightless eyes were open as he lay on the floor beside her; his neck twisted at an odd angle._

 _In his nearly 200 years of life, it appeared that Damon Salvatore had become a bit of an expert on one truth:_

 _If you'd seen one Petrova Doppelganger, you'd seen them all. They may have certain distinct proclivities or quirks, but in the end they were all the same. Their deepest motivations always the same. But he could not deny being curious as to how those motivations would manifest once Bonnie was captured and Elena vacated._

" _Hmm…" he mused, "A bit retro…but seeing as this get up is just a pit stop…you're wearing her well."_

 **BKBKBKBK**

"What on _earth_ are you talking about?" Klaus demanded.

James moved over to the new members of the hybrid's pack. "Would you all wait outside, please?" She asked quietly.

The wolves glanced over to their alpha, who was pinching the bridge of his nose and grimacing in annoyance.

Feeling their eyes on him, Klaus looked up. All seven were staring at him, nervous expectancy written on their faces. He stared at them questioningly until it dawned on him.

"Wait outside," he instructed, his voice barely above a whisper.

The wolves filed out of the room as James closed the door behind them. After locking it, she turned back to the alphas only to find Chloe grabbing a decanter and pouring herself a drink.

"It's seven in the morning, Chloe," the wolf chided dryly.

Chloe downed the contents of her glass before pouring another "So?" she asked incredulously.

James glanced over to Klaus, taking in the full measure of their current predicament before striding over to Chloe.

"Yeah…you're right. Give me that," she muttered, snatching the decanter from the alpha's hands and pouring a drink of her own. Draining her glass she turned to the hybrid and motioned for everyone to sit. Chloe was still agitated, but Erik and Neil had their lips pursed in suppressed amusement. Frederick was sat silently, seeming to be lost in thought.

James eyed the hybrid carefully. "A pack is formed when wolves submit to the dominance of an alpha," she explained. "When those wolves attempted to take your kill, you exerted yours and they submitted to it. They _chose_ to submit to it. And in return, you shared your kill with them. Even you should know what that means."

 _He did_. Even though he'd never experience pack life, instinct told him that she spoke true. He'd witnessed their submission and accepted it with such ease as to be an afterthought. A knot began to form in the pit of his stomach even as low chuckle rose from his chest.

"We're so glad you find this amusing," Chloe said, dryly.

"What else am I to find it? Your precious old ways never accounted for something like this now did they?" the hybrid asked, grinning.

"The old ways function under a sense of self preservation. Something the wolves in your pack clearly lack," Chloe replied, waving her glass in the air.

"Either that, or they have a rather keen understanding of superiority," the Klaus countered. He was no more pleased with this sudden turn of events than she was; however, he could not deny a sense of satisfaction as well. It is a singular delight to have something freely given, when one is accustomed to having to take by force.

"Oh dear God…" James muttered. "You aren't going to make this easy are you?"

"The end of the world is potentially several hours away. Why on earth would I make anything easy for anyone not named Bonnie Bennett?" He slowly drummed his fingers against his lips.

"I'm sure Klaus appreciates the seriousness of the situation," Neil said, finally chiming in.

"Oh indeed I do. These wolves follow your ways. I do not. _And yet they are mine_."

"They are _not_ your property. They are _not_ your servants and they are _not_ your cannon fodder." Chloe gritted out.

" _And yet they are mine_. They have placed themselves into my keeping and that is where they will remain for the time being," he said coolly, his eyes meeting Chloe's glare. He knew the concerns that drove the werewolf's ire and they were not unfounded as Tyler Lockwood stood a potent reminder of his experience as an alpha.

"Klaus is right…in part," Frederick announced. "The enemy will be at our doorstep in little over 12 hours and a new pack has been formed. While we may have legitimate concerns about that fact, there isn't very much we can do about it at the moment. Should we win the day, we can discuss this further." His gaze landed on all of them in turn.

"Besides, what are the chances of him slaughtering his new pack between now and then?" The older wolf added.

"Oh I don't know…you'd be surprised what I'm capable of when I put my mind to it," the hybrid smirked. _He was enjoying this_. If they were going to pull him from Bonnie's side in order to quibble about what does and does not belong to him, then he would have no problem letting them sit and spin on it.

Chloe set down her glass and leaned forward. Those seven wolves had been among a number of loners who'd come to any one of the five packs months ago in search of a new path. They'd been allowed to live among them as each one adopted the old ways as their own. Their goal was to join one of the five packs, and yet in some horrible twist, they'd wound up in the grasp of an alpha who had a storied history of being the antithesis of everything they believed.

Having invited Klaus to join them in the wild hunt, she knew that she and her fellow alphas felt a certain responsibility towards these wolves. And not one of them was comfortable with the idea that they may have inadvertently played a part in condemning them to a potential life of servitude until such time as they were strong enough to break free or strong enough to provoke extermination by their alpha.

"Just answer me one thing: If there was a way to dissolve this pack without harming those wolves, would you consider it?"

Klaus stroked the scruff at his chin thoughtfully. Any discomfiture he might share with them over this new development was secondary to the fact that no one—save Bonnie—would know his mind until such time as he chose to enlighten them.

He smiled coyly, dimples on full display. "I haven't decided yet."

 **BKBKBKBK**

When Klaus returned to their bedroom, he found Bonnie already up and showered. She wore her bright yellow bathrobe and stood with one of her legs propped on the bed, applying lotion. The robe's reveal of her smooth, shapely limb made the hybrid's frown deepen. _This_ is how he should be occupied. He should be peeling his all too tempting mate out of her bathrobe, not pondering the implications of a pack while staring annihilation in the face.

Bonnie looked up as he entered, her eyes widening at the scowl on his face. "Nik...are you ok?" The information she received through the bond had become sharper-more fine-tuned-since their mating and right now Klaus was both highly agitated and deeply apprehensive.

The hybrid moved further into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed. He wrapped a hand around her still exposed calf, his thumb stroking her skin absently.

"It would appear I have acquired a pack," he sighed.

The witch's eyes bulged. "You did what?"

Klaus sighed, "There are seven wolves out there who are now members of my pack."

Bonnie blinked rapidly, "I don't understand...How? When?"

"Last night...before I came to you," he said softly, his eyes meeting hers. The mere mention of their night together caused a lovely blush to spread across the witch's skin. He heard her heart begin to flutter as her eyes smoldered with the memory. The tiny scars she'd left on his neck began to tingle and based on the way she rolled her left shoulder, he knew his bite was causing the same sensation for her.

"During the hunt, there were seven wolves who'd managed to corner a relatively large black bear," he continued. "However none of them had the wherewithal to take him down. I did. But after claiming the kill, they attempted to take it from me."

"I'm sure that went over well," Bonnie snorted.

"Indeed. After I took my portion, I left to seek you out. But not before witnessing and accepting their submission.

"And now you're their alpha," Bonnie finished,

Klaus nodded, planting a kiss on her knee.

"Wow..." Bonnie breathed, climbing onto the bed and kneeling behind him. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her chin on his shoulder. Tendrils of her soft hair tickled his ear as he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"What are you going to do?" The witch asked quietly.

"I haven't decided. These wolves, they follow the ways of my father. Their goal was to join a pack that followed them as well."

"That may have been their goal, but in the end, they chose you." Bonnie pointed out.

"I don't know how to be an alpha to them," Klaus said. "There ways are not mine and there is no sirebond in place."

Bonnie shrugged. "Maybe that's the point. Sure they chose you, but your wolf— _you_ —chose to accept them last night. You can treat this like an accident if you want to, but it wasn't. On some level you want this, Nik."

"And what makes you so certain of that?"

"Well, this upgrade to the bond, for one," the witch replied. "I can sense that you're agitated about this and that you're apprehensive. But what you're not, is dismissive."

She ran her hands down his arms. "For another: I know you. I know that if this was something you truly didn't want to do, you'd already be planning a way to get out of it-up to and including bloodshed; not sitting here with me questioning whether or not you're the right fit for them."

The hybrid snorted at the witch's words. It would never cease to gratify him how easily these moments came to them.

A moment later, he'd maneuvered her to settle atop him while he lay on his back. His feet still on the floor. He untied the belt of her robe to reveal that she was marvelously naked, save for a pair of panties; white with yellow daisies.

"Do you realize that the very last thing I want to do right now is discuss the merits of pack life?" Klaus asked, his thumb caressing the scar above her belly button.

Bonnie smiled down into his face. " _You? What about me?_ I've got one world to build and a monster to vanquish. But I'd much rather just stay locked in here with you and massive amounts of sage to burn." Her robe fell completely open as she leaned down to kiss him.

Klaus wrapped his arms around her, pressing her closer. Despite her glibness over today's agenda, he could sense her beginning to change.

She was right about the bond; their mating had upgraded it. And because of it, he felt her shifting…recalibrating…gearing herself up for the work ahead. He's not even certain she's consciously aware that she's doing it, but right now even as her body warms and melts against his, he can feel her beginning the slow process of donning whatever armor she may need. He can feel her beginning to center and settle into the role she will play and it angers him. The ease with which she does this angers him because it's clear she's done it far too many times before.

Bonnie felt Klaus' arms tighten around her. He may not be in the mood to acknowledge it now, but she knew that he would remain alpha to those wolves. What form his pack would take remained to be seen. But in her estimation, alpha and pack could learn a great deal from one another.

A knock at the door broke their kiss. "Alright you two. We've got a big day ahead of us. The curtain goes up in T-minus 10 hours!" Caroline called through the door.

Klaus growled in irritation when Bonnie sat up reluctantly. "We should get to it then. We've got promises to keep," the witch said, her fingers tracing the fullness of his lips.

The hybrid lifted her hand and pressed a kiss into her palm.

"And miles to go before we sleep, love."

 **BKBKBKBK**

Stefan stared at the plate Bonnie placed in front of him. On it was a short stack of pancakes, the top of which featured eyes, a nose and fangs crudely drawn with whipped cream. A blueberry had been placed in the center of each eye as well as the nose, while a maraschino cherry adorned each inverted triangle of a fang.

"Why pancakes?" the vampire asked.

Bonnie chuckled. "When we were in the prison world, these are what Damon used to make for breakfast. Whether I wanted him to or not."

After Bonnie left Klaus that morning, she and Stefan agreed that they would meet in the kitchen for breakfast. Last minute preparations were nearly complete and Klaus was off to speak with his pack. Marcel had sent scouts out beyond the barrier to alert them once Bob and company came into visual range.

"So how do we do this exactly?" Bonnie asked, cutting into the pancake with her fork.

"I'm not sure. I never bothered to figure out the specifics over the past few years. Was kind of hoping I never would have to."

Bonnie nodded in agreement before looking up. "How do you feel?"

"Honestly? I still haven't really been able to put it into words. I've tried to write it down several times, but nothing seems to come out. Two hundred years of our kind of history is a lot to sort through even though it feels like I started the grieving process the minute we agreed to do this back then.

"I think we both did. Even without realizing it, I think we did in our own way. I feel like I've already grieved for them both over the years. And now, after the kind of life Enzo had, a part of me is just glad that the part of him I loved isn't here to see all that Bob's had what's left of him do. I'm glad that the part of him that I loved lives in my memory rather than what he's become. Even if I'm the only one that wants to remember him."

Stefan chewed thoughtfully, "What about Damon?"

The witch smiled, fondly. "I don't have anywhere near two hundred years of history, he and I went through a lot, as enemies, reluctant allies and finally friends. At this point, I'm just…grateful when it comes to him."

Stefan quirked an eyebrow. "Grateful?"

Bonnie speared another piece of pancake. "Yeah…grateful. I mean, I used to hate Damon more than anyone in the world. I mean the _whole world_ , Stefan. I don't think you realize how many times my loyalty to Elena kept me from burning him to ash."

There were nights she'd lain awake, fighting the urge to get up, find him and put him out of all of their miseries. Fought it so that angry tears slipped from eyes squeezed shut and her palms bled from clenching her fists so tightly. With the exception of her father's death, Damon Salvatore had played an active role in taking away everything that meant anything to her…including Elena.

"Oh I knew," the vampire answered. "Just like I knew that Liz's friendship with Damon hung by a thread that Caroline could've easily cut." It was an understanding between he and Caroline that they never spoke of and he would always be grateful to his fiancé for her choosing never to go there. But if Caroline had _ever_ decided to tell her mother what Damon had done to her, the good sheriff would have staked him.

Liz was happy in her friendship with Damon and after discovering what he was and what her daughter had become, that friendship helped smooth the way in her learning to accept what she'd hated her entire life. Caroline made the conscious decision to withhold that information in spite of the damage they all knew he'd caused her, because she knew that even though her mother would have killed Damon without hesitation, it would have broken her heart to do so.

"Yeah she could have and she definitely wanted to more than once," Bonnie agreed. "But I'm grateful because even if the prison world wasn't the best of circumstances, it did give me a chance to see Damon in a different way. A way that made me happy to end up considering him one of my best friends. A way that insists that the thing that took him from us pays dearly for such a mistake."

"You know he never really talked about what happened with you two in that prison world…outside of him telling me that you told him how Caroline felt about me," Stefan said, pointing his fork at the witch.

That had been Stefan's first bit of proof that Damon's affection for Bonnie was mutual. Dragging him and Alaric across the country with a teddy bear and subsequently damaging his relationship with Alaric beyond repair certainly spoke to the place the witch held in his brother's life after leaving the prison world. But there was no way in this world or any other that Bonnie would have divulged something— _anything_ —like that about Caroline to a Damon she still hated and mistrusted.

"I never talked about it much either, outside of the bigger details," Bonnie shrugged. "It's not something readily understandable unless you've been through it."

"But he was different afterward," Stefan pointed out. "I mean of course something like that changes you, but Damon…for a while there it was the first time I'd ever seen him really trying to be different." The most notable example being his reaction to finding out that Elena erased her love for him from her mind. Blood did not flow in the streets, nefarious plans weren't hatched to win her back. Even the guy she was seeing made it out alive.

"His new leaf hadn't turned completely over, but it had been turning…even in small increments. And I know a lot of that had to do with his time with you, no matter how bad the circumstances might have been."

Bonnie opened her mouth to disagree when Stefan stopped her. "No, Bonnie you need to hear me out because I don't think that even Damon fully understood the impact you had on him."

"Elena chose to focus on the good in him to the exclusion of all else. She may have made him _believe_ that he could change, but I think that you and what you two managed to build made him _want_ to change. Made him choose to do the right thing not just to win brownie points with a girl, but because it was the right thing to do. _That_ is the Damon I grew up with. That's the Damon I'm going to miss."

It hadn't surprised Stefan at all to see Damon begin to fall back into old habits once he and Elena were back together. As much as he loved Elena once, he wasn't blind about who and what she was:

In the ocean of time and space, Elena and the doppelgangers before her were fixed points. Unchanging and never needing to. To exist in their orbit, one only needed to be just as unchanging or wind up either crashing into them or hurtling off into space. After they'd learned of Qetsiyah and Amara and how the line of Petrova doppelgangers began, he wondered more than once if the similarities went beyond blood and resemblance and extended to their almost clockwork ability to attract chaos.

After Elena went to sleep, Stefan quietly hoped that his brother would be able continue along the path he'd tentatively begun to walk. To fully understand that his choices were his own and not born out of a need to appear worthy in the eyes of another. To be spurred by his heart rather than his desperations. He had been _so close_ to getting there. And it's the thought of what could have been that brings tears to his eyes and finally puts a name to how he feels.

 _Angry_. Angry that all hope for his brother had been snuffed out so unceremoniously. Angry that the glimpses of the brother he remembered would remain only that. Angry that someone he'd loved his entire life—in spite of everything—had been hollowed out, leaving no room for either love or hate.

Bonnie watched as Stefan's eyes hardened and his jaw tightened. He poured them both drinks before holding his aloft and waiting for her to do the same.

"To Damon Salvatore and Lorenzo St. John," he began, "and to what could have been," He drained his glass in one gulp.

"I swear we're going to make that fucker pay," the vampire promised as Bonnie emptied her glass as well.

"Yes the hell we are."

 **BKBKBKBK**

Klaus' eyes surveyed the members of his pack seated before him. The sense of familiarity he'd felt that morning had only continued to deepen as the day wore on. Even now as he sat there, he knew that Kurt with his shaved head and violet eyes was the quickest of them to anger, while Luke with his golden brown skin and shoulder-length locs was the slowest. He knew that Vera had recently become pregnant and that Hazel and Roland had mated shortly after submitting to him the night before. And while Charles and Tyrone had not mated, there was already a bond firmly in place.

"Unfortunately, we do not have very much time for a real discussion about what's happened, so I'll keep this brief. I am your alpha. Any questions?

The wolves remained silent but their faces were masks of uncertainty. He could hardly blame them. Their wolves may have been driven by instinct to choose him in the dead of night, but in the bright light of day, he was still the one who'd slaughtered his entire pack.

"Did you…" a voice began timidly, "did you really mate with the Bennett witch last night?" The encampment had all been abuzz with talk of the hybrid both claiming the witch and forming of a new pack.

Klaus raised an eyebrow, "Yes. What of it?"

"Well…why? I mean in light of what's happening tonight, why would you do that? We know what happens if this goes wrong. We also know that even if we win, she could still die. Why mate amidst so much uncertainty?"

Klaus appraised the wolf—Roland—for a moment. "And yet isn't that exactly what you did last night…with her?" he nodded toward the now blushing Hazel.

"Sometimes, a connection's mere existence is more important than its duration," he said, finally.

Charles nodded in understanding, "Like that saying: 'better to have loved and lost-'"

"Nonsense," the hybrid scoffed. "Tennyson was a melancholy hack; his understanding of love limited. There are more than a few problems with that ridiculous line. My point is that we are what we are until we are not. Bonnie is my mate. I am your alpha. That is the way it will be until it isn't. The details can wait until morning…if there is one."

"Do you really think she can pull this off?" Vera asked quietly.

A small smile played around the Klaus' lips. "Doubting or underestimating Bonnie has always proven to be a grave mistake; so yes, I believe she can. However in order for her to do what needs to be done, we need to do our part. We must give her the time she needs. But we must also ensure that our enemy has no viable means of escape."

He looked at each wolf in turn. "Tonight, you will stay close to me. You will protect yourselves and you will protect each other. But make no mistake, the south lawn _will_ become a kill floor. Wounding is not an option, neither is mercy. Every one of his forces that crosses your path _must_ be cut down, no exceptions. Is that understood?"

Somber nods of assent were his reply. He could tell that not many of them had taken a life beyond whatever one unleashed their wolves and the battle ahead of them was unlike any other.

"It is in times like these," he continued, "that our limits are tested and we find out what we're truly capable of. It's a moment when we meet ourselves—sometimes for the first time. The person you were before isn't the person you will be after and the reality of that is not gently borne. Nevertheless, I look forward to meeting who you will become."

 **BKBKBKBK**

"Will you stop doing that?" Bonnie complained, her hands swatting at Caroline. The vampire had taken to sniffing her incessantly.

"Not until you tell me why you smell different," Caroline demanded. It was weird. Before today, Bonnie's scent was readily identifiable, albeit accompanied by Klaus' scent. Even covered in his, Bonnie's had always been easily distinguishable. But now it seemed as though someone had taken both hers and the hybrid's and put them through a blender.

"Alright…alright…" the witch promised. After leaving Stefan, she'd headed outside to the ritual site. She and Vincent went over the spells for what had to be the millionth time, emphasizing the timing needed to cast each one. Caroline insisted on time to debrief Bonnie on everything that had been or would be completed, but the moment the witch showed her face, the blond was on her; sniffing her like an eager bloodhound.

"Well if you must know…Klaus and I… _mated_ ," Bonnie said shyly.

Blue eyes grew wide as saucers. "You did?! When? Where was I?"

"Yes. Last night. Probably with Stefan," the witch replied matter-of-factly.

"Wow…," the vampire breathed.

"Yeah…" Bonnie echoed.

Caroline was happily stunned. She knew how they felt about each other but had no idea that an actual mating between a witch and werewolf, let alone a hybrid was even possible.

She yanked the witch into a bear hug. "I'm so happy for you! How you do feel?"

Bonnie squeezed the vampire tightly before pulling away and sighing. "I'm happy, Care. I'm really happy. And I feel like he and I should be hopping on a motorcycle and taking off to parts unknown for several weeks just to enjoy this. But instead, we're preparing for war. His wolf has some really interesting timing. Especially since now he's got a new pack."

"What?!" Caroline gaped. "Did that happen last night too?"

Bonnie nodded. "Those alphas said last night was for taking care of wolf business. They were _not_ kidding."

"Wow…" the vampire breathed.

"Yeah…" Bonnie echoed.

Caroline fiddled with the walkie-talkie in her hands as they moved to sit in a small gazebo in Bonnie's garden. "We're a long way from Mystic Falls, Bonnie. This is not how we saw our lives turning out is it? I mean I'm a vampire engaged to another vampire while co-parenting two siphoning witches. You're an uber powerful witch who just mated with a 1,000 year old vampire werewolf hybrid and Elena…" the vampire sighed deeply, thinking of their friend. "Tyler hasn't heard from Jeremy?"

Bonnie shook her head solemnly. "No. No one's heard anything." If Jeremy had succeeded in rescuing Elena they would have heard about it by now, she knew.

"We were supposed to wind up wrinkled old ladies bitching at each other, Bon."

"I know. What's that saying? 'Man plans, God laughs?' Except most of this shit wasn't funny."

They fell silent, each lost in memories of sleepovers and whispered crushes and the lives of three young girls who were barely recognizable against the kind of women they'd become.

"We've got to win this thing, Bon," Caroline said finally.

"I know…" Bonnie replied. " _But_ …if we don't, I get to die knowing that _technically_ , _I'm_ the one who got married first," she pointed out, trying to dodge the hands slapping at her arm.

"You just had to go there, didn't you?"

"Yep," the witch grinned.

 **BKBKBKBK**

"I was wondering when you'd get here," Bonnie said as Klaus stepped into their bedroom.

The witch had changed clothing since that morning, settling on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a leather jacket currently lying on an arm of their couch. Her hair had been pulled back into a severe bun.

"Marcel's scouts reported in. Bob and company have begun their march toward the barrier. Everyone's suiting up and heading out now.

Bonnie nodded, "Any word on when Galadriel and Elrond get here?

"What on earth would we need them for? We have you."

"Still…this is about as close to a Lord of the Rings level event as I'm going to get." She draped her arms around his neck. "I'll be Aragorn…you can be Gimli," she teased, chuckling as the hybrid pulled her close and pressed his forehead to hers.

"Is that so?"

"Yep," she said, still smiling.

In that moment, with her warm body so close to his, her breath on his skin and her scent all around him, he feels the same reckless urge to flee that rose in him whenever Mikael was on his heels. He wanted to take her and run. Run and keep running. He had 1,000 years of experience at it and he would use it keep her safe. Because if by some wretched twist of fate things go badly, this could be the last time he'd have her in his arms.

That Bonnie was the kind who never had and never would run from anything in her life, caused his arms to tighten around her.

"I can't lose you…"

Bonnie felt his turmoil through the bond as she cupped his face in her small hands. Moments like these were the hardest and the ones she most often wanted to avoid—Jeremy having been on the receiving end of both a sleeping spell and a shitty phone call as evidence. But she wouldn't do either with Klaus. "I can't promise that you won't," she said softly, "I can only promise to do everything I can to make sure you don't."

She looked into his eyes as she lit up their bond with all the love and hope she'd felt from the moment she kissed him on their balcony and began to understand that Klaus had managed to carve out a place in her heart that could be filled by no one else.

"I've danced versions of this dance before, Nik," she said, her voice thick with feeling. "Am I scared? No. _Because it's different now_. Before, the only thing I looked forward to was my friends being safe and happy and I still want that. There was nothing for me, just them. But now…now I can see what's waiting for me on the other side of this— _who's_ _waiting for me._ I'm not afraid to face Bob tonight; _I long for it_. I long to get this over and done with so we can start our lives tomorrow. Because for the first time since finding out about who and what I am… _I am not planning to die_." Her thumb brushed away the single tear that fell from his cheek.

"So I'm not going say goodbye just in case or thank you for loving me or some nonsense. Instead, I'm going to kiss you and then start counting the minutes until I can do that again."

She blinked away the sting of tears trying to form; willing herself to hold them back with a promise of a well-deserved bawl when this was all over. She smiled as she gathered herself, steeling herself against whatever was coming their way.

Klaus felt strength and resolve building within her— _fortifying her_ —as her lips found his; their bond flaring at the contact. He poured everything he'd said and hadn't said into it. He poured his anger and his pride at her valor into it. As for his fear…his fear he would hold onto until it turned into a rage that he would unleash on all who had brought them to this point.

"I love you…so much…" he whispered against her lips.

"I love you, too." She swallowed hard as she wrapped her arms around him and held him close.

A throat cleared at the bedroom door and they both turned to see Marcel standing in the doorway.

"Sorry to interrupt but…we just got word from the barrier. They're here.

Bonnie exhaled slowly, before turning back to Klaus. She placed her hands on his shoulders and bowed her head, drawing in several deep breaths, locking away any and everything that might cause hesitation or confusion; leaving only the work to be done and the will to do it.

When Bonnie's eyes found his again, he nearly gave a start. It had been over a decade and yet he would never forget _that_ face. This was the face of the witch who came charging out of woods and nearly killed him so many years ago. These were the eyes whose green flames burned with righteous fury.

He'd seen his death reflected in those eyes back then. And if he were a different sort, he might pity Bob now.

 **KBKBKBK**

Damon stood before the barrier, watching Bonnie approach. Logan stood at his side and they were flanked by several witches. He'd been surprised upon seeing the size of the army the witched raised. From the looks of it, they stood around 300 strong; a little over half that number wearing body army of some sort.

"Is that her?" Logan asked, watching the figure striding towards them with a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a large, vicious-looking black dog at her heels.

"Yep, that's her. In the flesh," Damon confirmed.

"She's pretty," the witch mused.

"Yes, she is; but that kitten's got a whip so keep your eyes open."

Bonnie steeled herself as she approached the barrier. It's been four years since she's seen Damon Salvatore in the flesh. He was dressed in his usual uniform. Boots, dark jeans, a black shirt and his black leather jacket. He surrounded himself with solitaries, the one closest to him being the strongest, she suspected.

Bonnie stopped a few feet before reaching the barrier. "Hello, Damon."

"Hey, Bon," the vampire smirked, nodding to the bouquet in her hand. "Flowers? For me? You shouldn't have! Although I am allergic to that particular variety."

"Oh darn…" Bonnie pouted, feigning disappointment.

The vampire eyed her appreciatively. "Indeed. But if it's any consolation, four years later and you're still hot."

"I'm black and I'm a witch; I'll be this hot eighty years from now," Bonnie shrugged.

Damon grinned, "I'm sure your body will…but you'll be long gone by then."

"Is that a fact?" Bonnie sneered.

The vampire hummed, "I'm afraid it is. Now is it too much to hope that you're here to drop this pesky little barrier and turn yourself over to us?"

Bonnie's smile wide but lacking in warmth, "Oh that's _way_ too much to hope, Damon."

Damon stepped closer to the barrier, his jacket brushing against it. He tilted his head back, inhaling a sample of the air, honing in on Bonnie's scent. He frowned the moment he recognized it.

"Klaus, Bonnie? Really? I mean I saw him running around here last month but I never would have thought…If I had known you were capable of fucking that mongrel, we would've done a lot less talking back in that prison world, Bon Bon."

"Cut the shit, Damon," the witch snapped. "Where's your master?"

"Oh he's around. You promised him magic the likes of which he's never seen. Instead there's this small albeit impressive army and a witch who smells like wet dog. If this is your opening act—"

"It isn't," Bonnie said, cutting him off. " _This_ is your chance to call this whole thing off."

"Yeah...that's not gonna happen. Plus, my buddy Logan here came all this way to meet you," Damon said, clapping the witch next to him on the shoulder.

Bonnie's eyes fell on the witch. She remembered his name from her trip through Elena's mind. This was the head witch. The one in charge of all of the solitaries they'd brought with them. He seemed young despite the scowl they threatened his features. This was the witch responsible for the psychic attack and the hex on Klaus. And this witch had probably been doing god knows what to Elena.

"Do yourself a favor, Logan," Bonnie said, her eyes never leaving his. "Go home. Take all of your people and go home. Leave the monster you came with behind and save yourselves."

A small smile appeared on Logan's placid face, "Or else what?"

"Or else not one of you is going to leave here alive," Bonnie replied firmly.

"Oh that's pretty big talk, Judgey. But you seem to be forgetting that we outnumber you by _quite_ a bit." Damon looked over his shoulder to those assembled several yards behind him.

"I've been outnumbered from the day you and Stefan came back to Mystic Falls. I didn't give a shit then and I don't give a shit now. I've been living with this bullshit for four years now. My patience is gone and so is my mercy. So when I tell you that death is the only thing waiting for you on the other side of this barrier, _I fucking mean it_."

Damon stepped forward, and placed his palms on the barrier. His lip curled as its magic sizzled against his skin.

"I was wrong, Bon. _This_ is your best look. Too bad we're not gonna get a chance to catch up like old friends."

"We're not friends. The Damon Salvatore I knew is gone and I will miss him always. But you…you die tonight."

Damon studied the witch before him. It had been years since he'd been on this side of Bonnie's wrath, but he fully remembered the firm set of her shoulders, the scent of magic all but begging to be released to show him exactly what she thought of his existence on the planet.

The difference now, he realized, was that there was nothing to stay her hand. He knew his brother and Caroline stood among her ranks, her mother was gone and so were Elena and Jeremy. There was nothing to hold over her head, nothing to manipulate, no one to appeal to the compassion and gentleness in her heart.

For the first time since this saga began, Damon Salvatore believed in the possibility that tonight might be his last day on earth.

Bonnie brought the flowers to her face, inhaling their scent, before whispering a spell into their softness. Logan's body tensed and his eyes narrowed as he watched her throw the bouquet high into the air before turning and walking back towards her army; not bothering to wait for it fall to the ground.

It took the solitary only a second to realize that the bouquet hadn't fallen. He looked up, expecting to see them suspended in mid-air. Instead he watched as storm clouds began to form and converge. The wind picked up and howled around them. Lightening flashed and cracked, illuminating the darkening sky above as the clouds burst.

Screams of pain rose from the midst of Bob's army like high tide. The multitude of vampires among them shrieking as their bodies became drenched in the deluge. Burning, searing pain sent the vampires running in all directions in search of shelter, throwing their entire army into chaos. Any that tried to retreat back down the main road were cut off as lightning struck their path, igniting the ground as wall of fire rose to block them. The werewolves among moved to protect themselves from frenzied vampires while solitaries scrambled to conjure counterspells in an effort to stop the storm that had been created around them to no avail.

It was raining vervain.

Damon snarled at the solitaries around them to do something as his body felt as though it were being pelted by acid. Through the haze of his pain, he looked toward Bonnie army.

The body armor clad vampires among them stood unharmed even as the pungent odor stung at their eyes and nostrils; blanketing the entire region.

Bonnie heard Klaus' voice bellowing the call to attack, before reaching the army and dropped the barrier in response. She felt their bodies surge past her and felt the heat of spells being fired off as the merciless fell upon the damned.

A/N: And so it begins. Only two chapters left! Whoo hoo we're in the final stretch!

Thanks so much for the reviews of the last chapter. I was worried about whether or not the mating scene would translate well on both a physical and magical level.

I'm sad this story is ending too! But my goal was to see if I could write a complete story with character development, conflict, honesty, romance, smut etc and do it in about as many chapters as there are episodes in either TVD or TO while taking all the bullshit that came before into account. This story is my version of a final season. So when I started writing it back in July I knew there would be a beginning, middle and end. I can't write chapter after chapter with no end in sight. I'd either: 1. go nuts 2. write myself into a corner plot-wise and then spend god knows how many chapters circling the airport trying to figure out how to land the plane or 3. Lose interest and drop it altogether LOL. That being said, I do intend to revisit this universe I've created for Truth Teller (I love Klonnie too much not to) although I don't know if it will be in the form of stories this size. Most likely drabbles and one shots as I really need to focus on my novel. The next and final update will be a double header as I'll be posting both 24 and 25. Call it my 2 hour series finale LOL

Thank you all so much for your support of this fic. For the feedback, the questions, the thrown phones LOL. I love these characters and I love writing so it means a lot that you all enjoy what I'm doing. Especially since there's such great Klonnie writers out there whose work I'm truly a fan of like _Anastasia-G_ , _CheleOnRage712,_ _not the bees_ , _Six2VII_ , _thefudge is grumpy_ and _Lilac 17_. Writers who consistently put out content that's original, creative, immersive and fleshes out Bonnie and Klaus in ways that truly do both the characters and the ship justice. I've been focused on finishing this fic for the past 6 months (?!) so I'm way behind on reading updates but as soon as Chapter 25 posts, I get to go back to being a fic reader again for a little bit YAY!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!


	24. This One Woman

A/N: Excessive violence warning.

 **This One Woman**

" _We on an ultralight beam. This is a God dream." Kanye West_

Bonnie heard more than saw the impact as whatever of Bob's forces not shrieking in pain, surged forward to meet those barreling down on them.

Their plan had worked. Bonnie's previous trip through Elena's mind resulted in details regarding the make-up of Bob's army. They were certainly more than out-numbered. But the bulk of their force was made up of vampires. Being able to neutralize them even for a moment would provide a much-needed advantage while at the same time causing disruption amongst their entire army.

The rain and the chaos it caused would not last long, but it would give her enough time to shield her movements, she thought as she felt Caroline's arm wrap around her as if on cue.

"Hang on," Caroline panted before speeding the witch over to the ritual site and away from the building melee. Blonde hair peeked out from beneath the helmet she wore. The scent of blood and magic was beginning to fill the air, mixing with that of the vervain; forcing the vampire's happy face into full view.

" _Now look_ ," Caroline hissed, her hands gripping Bonnie's upper arms tightly. "You're the Buffy _and_ the Willow in this story, _alright_? So you go and do what you have to do and then you bring your little ass home, _do you understand me?_ " She shook the witch hard, not daring to hold her again for fear of crushing her.

The bloodlust building within her coupled with the reckless urge to protect her sister was bringing the vampire to a state she hadn't felt since the night she'd taken out a coven of witches during the Expression nightmare.

Bonnie nodded, stepping farther away. "That goes for you too, Care. Now go!"

Caroline held the witch's gaze for a moment longer before speeding off and into the fray.

Bonnie retreated further into the circle. The witches Vincent selected to channel ley energy into their coven mates, were assembled a safe distance away; already well into their task.

Adrenalin coursed through her veins, forcing her to take in deep gulps of air to calm and center herself. Worrying about Klaus, her friends or any of her allies fighting tooth and nail on the front lines would do none of them any good she reminded herself.

She closed her eyes, blocking everything out and summoned her magic; feeling it build within her...eager to be put to task. It was as if it bore an awareness that this was the moment; this was the work it had waited so long to perform.

From the moment she received this inheritance two years ago, she hadn't had occasion to test its limits. To fully grasp the length and breadth of the magic previously borne by her ancestors.

But tonight, as her body warmed despite the rain and she stretched her arms out to her sides, she could only brace herself a one thousand years' worth of spirit magic plunged into the earth with such force as to cause the ground beneath her tremble. Her magic hurled itself downward, connecting with the pool below; drawing greedily on the inexhaustible energy it contained while seeking out more. It reached out with eager fingers; finding the connected lines and reservoirs.

It fanned out in all directions; spanning...spreading like wildfire beneath forest and mountain, beneath desert and sea floor. Demanding that the life's blood of this world's magic answer her call to arms. Marshalling all of the power used to create the Other Side some two thousand years ago and sending it back...back along the paths it had come and into the small, mortal body of its kindred.

When Bonnie opened her eyes, she could see it...she could feel it. All of it. _Magic_. She could see the magic clinging to the raindrops that fell; feel the beginning strains of celestial energy from the comet quickly approaching overhead. She raised her hands high in anticipation.

When it came to harnessing the power of a celestial event, Bonnie's experience was limited to full moons—of which she was quite familiar—an eclipse and the aurora borealis. Her ancestor Emily possessed her once and used her magic to harness a comet's power in order to destroy the means by which the tomb beneath Fells Church could be opened. The witch still had no clear memory of all that occurred between the moment of the séance at Elena's house and Damon's fangs bearing down on her.

But in this moment, she needn't rely on memory to know that the power of a comet was an entirely different beast when compared to the fairly local phenomena she'd experienced.

Large masses of ice and dirt hurtling through space at unfathomable speeds, adding on and casting off, leaving a marriage of fire and water in its wake; committed to returning every 133 years to this exact same spot.

Bonnie extended her arms to the heavens and felt her magic reach up with hungry hands, grabbing hold as if it were a ribbon snatched from a strong breeze. Power rushed downward, entering her body with enough force to drop her hard to her knees.

She heaved in air, feeling as though she were inhaling fire and exhaling starlight. She struggled to her feet, her body slowly beginning to adjust to the volume of power building within her. Reaching behind, she withdrew Papa Tunde's blade from her waistband and dragged its sharpened tip across the flat of her palm; slicing it open. Blood flowed as she extended her arm and watched as it dripped down to the ground; igniting into a blue flame that raced around, tracing the manmade lines that had been drawn and establishing the perimeter in which she would work.

A voice she wouldn't have recognized as her own intoned as the spell to open the portal rose from the depths of her.

 **BKBKBKBK**

When Caroline returned to the front, the entire south lawn was in chaos. The vampires in Bob's company were still being hammered by the rain, but the wolves among them rushed forward, their brute strength propelling them into the fray. Though the threat of their bite was gone with the full moon, the wolves were still formidable, pressing their attack.

One such wolf lunged at her, taking her down as their bodies went tumbling together before breaking apart. When they faced each other on two feet, the wolf bore a wooden stake dipped in silver, while Caroline held a short sword, unsheathed from the scabbard at her back and spelled for battle by the Nine Covens.

The wolf struck first, his arm flashing out and aiming for her heart. Caroline feinted, letting her body bend her low enough to avoid the blow while slicing the sharp of her blade along his abdomen. The wound wasn't deep enough to cause real damage, but the spell upon the blade guaranteed that it would not close; the fire of wolf's bane stinging at the torn flesh. He roared, stumbling back as he lost his balance.

Caroline lunged forward, underestimating the speed with which the wolf would regain his footing and found herself thrown to the ground, the back of her helmet thudding against the muddied surface. Her vision cleared in time for her to see the stake driving down towards her and jerked her body sideways; the stake's point missing her heart and plunging deep into her shoulder.

The vampire howled in pain, only to feel the stake being yanked from its point of entry. A heady brew of rage and pain gave the blonde the strength to throw the wolf from her, giving her the space to get to her feet, sword in hand. The sudden numbness in her wounded shoulder began to flow rapidly down her left arm followed by the familiar sandpaper-like sting that foretold desiccation. The smirk sitting on the wolf's face confirmed her fears. His stake was spelled to desiccate whatever it touched,

Caroline snarled at the wolf, "My own children tried this shit with me. You think I'm gonna let you get away with it?!"

She tightened her grip on her sword and leapt forward, the ferocity of her attack taking him off guard as he stumbled backwards on the rain soaked earth, jerking to and fro to avoid the slash of her blade. Unwilling to give him an opening to gather himself, she pressed forward despite the pain in the rapidly desiccating arm hanging at her side. The wolf went down as his footing finally gave way in the mud.

Caroline changed the direction of her blade, allowing it to swing out in a wide arc, cleaving the wolf's head from his shoulders before he hit the ground.

Her head whipped about frantically before Caroline's eyes fell on a solitary within her reach; one who seemed to be trying to create a barrier around himself and the vampires he was trying to heal.

She was on him an instant later, her fangs tearing brutally into the witch's throat as she drank; feeling the warmth as her arm began to heal. Once she'd drained him dry, she threw his body to the ground and easily dispatched the vampires he'd been trying to protect.

She steeled herself for what was next, and began the work of slicing and hacking her way towards the center of the melee.

 **#**

The rain was beginning to lessen, Klaus realized as he ripped the heart from the vampire in his grasp. Once Bonnie was safely spirited away to the north side of the estate, he'd managed to push their line of offense, taking down any that stood in his way.

When it stopped, Bob's forces would have the slow process of healing accelerated by their solitaries. Right now, the rain had done a thorough job of searing the skin from their bodies; exposing the tissue and muscle beneath.

The rear of their forces had begun using grenade launchers, firing canisters of weaponized wolf's bane and vervain into the depths of Bob's army. Witches threw up barriers to withstand the onslaught before hurling spells of their own from their fingertips. Vincent's witches responded, sending bodies flying into the air as they carved up the earth with their magic. The fissures that formed glowed with magic as any vampire wandering too close was incinerated as if by the noonday sun.

He glanced to his left and saw Vincent, his hands slicing through the air as three wolves bore down on him. Before they reached him, all three of their bodies were vivisected by magic, their blood spraying across the Regent's face.

Klaus pressed on, his mind sinking deeper into his wolf. He reveled in the feeling of bones shattering in his grip...flesh trapped between his teeth...blood coating his tongue.

To finally be able to take so many weeks worth of frustration and anger out on those responsible for it was exhilarating as he ripped through body after body of those that tried to stand against him, flinging their remains as if they were so much refuse. He scanned his ranks to find the wolves in his vicinity holding their own, following him as he exploited a breach in the wall of bodies they were up against.

The hybrid leapt forward. There was but one person he wanted in his sights. The witch whose name Bonnie plucked from Elena's mind. _Logan_. According to Bonnie, he was Bob's top witch, being responsible for not only Damon's psychic attack on her, but also the hex that had been cast on him. What power the witch and those that were with him had would more than likely be augmented by Elena's blood. Eliminating Logan as quickly as possible would not only deal a blow to the solitaries working with him, but also take out one of Bob's strongest weapons.

A piercing scream reached the hybrid's ears followed by the strong sense of a fear that belonged to neither himself nor Bonnie. His eyes scanned the area quickly, landing on his pack member Hazel. One of Bob's wolves was throwing her to the ground; one of her shoulders a bloodied mess.

The wolf was on her; the blade in his hand descending when he suddenly felt a sharp pain followed by weightlessness as he was thrown backwards and away from Hazel. Still alive he tried to stand and brace himself for attack only to numbly realize that such a simple thing would never be possible again as the lower half of his body still remained crouched over his former victim.

He'd been torn in half.

He watched as his assailant kicked away his faintly twitching lower half before his mind finally caught up with the death throes of his body.

Klaus hauled Hazel to her feet; the wolf nodding her thanks. As he turned to continue through the melee, the rain stopped and the clouds dissipated as suddenly as they'd begun. Bob's solitaries were already beginning to take advantage of the reprieve, firing off widely cast healing spells among their ranks.

Unwilling to see their advantage disappear altogether, the hybrid reached for the holster at his waist, removed a flare gun and fired it into the night sky.

 **#**

Stefan looked up as a flare exploded above them.

"That's our signal!" Marcel shouted before nodding to the half dozen witches who'd been cloaking their party's location from the moment Damon walked up to the barrier.

It had been a risky move, dividing their army of over 500 nearly in half; cloaking one half in magic as they ventured through the woods and re-emerged to flank the enemy.

Once the cloak was dropped, over two hundred supernaturals led by Stefan, Marcel, James and Neil rushed forward.

 **#**

For the first time in nearly 200 years, Damon Salvatore was reminded of something he'd realized when he was human:

He _really_ didn't like war.

Sure he'd defected from the Confederate Army on principle, but that same principle hadn't inspired him to trade in his grey uniform for a blue one. Instead, he'd gone home, fully prepared to suffer his father's displeasure-the lesser of two evils in his book.

But whether it was fighting a war or his abusive father, the same core issue could still be found in the lack of control one had over their circumstance. No matter how well-trained the soldier or how obedient the son, there was no accounting for if and when a canon or a fist was aimed in your direction. No warning that your fate had officially ceased to be your own and that you were now subject to the mercy or malice of another.

After they'd been vampires for several decades, Stefan joined the war effort in the 40s and Damon had been willing to enlist as well. Not because he felt any particular way about World War II, but because it was an opportunity to spend time with Stefan after they'd reconciled.

Even now as committed to his master's victory as he was, he still would have much preferred Bonnie simply give herself up and save them all the trouble of the clusterfuck that was in full swing around him.

Murder…mayhem…torture…these are all scenarios that he can and has gotten behind and enjoyed immensely. But this…hundreds upon hundreds of bodies clashing, blood and gore spraying in all directions, the screams of the maimed and dying…it was an oversaturation of a singular enjoyment. A sensory overload overriding detail and nuance. There was no time for appreciation, no time to draw out and lure in, no time to savor every minute inflection of a kill.

 _This…was fucking_ _work_ , he thought irritably.

All he knew was that the sooner Logan and whatever remained of his solitaries regrouped and the sooner his master and Enzo found a way through to reach Bonnie, the sooner he could get out of this mire.

A flare going off in the sky followed by a cacophony of screams and gunfire toward the rear of their forces drew his attention and he marveled at how after all these years-knowing her as well as he did-he'd still managed to underestimate his favorite witch.

He hadn't accounted for her little rain trick. He realized now that he also hadn't accounted for Bonnie's penchant to not show all of her cards. And that error rang as loudly as the rounds spewing from the automatic weapons that were now cutting down the rear of their force; the witch's considerable reinforcements bearing down on them with his own little brother leading the charge.

" _Fuck_ ," the vampire gritted out.

 **BKBKBKBK**

It was a strange feeling; being part of the world and yet outside of it. The sensation of being just one step off of the natural progression of time. To exist and not exist. It was a feeling Bonnie had become familiar with in more ways than one.

The portal to the Astral Plane was open; a swirling vortex of power overhead. The space within her circle only a tiny pocket of its vastness. The power it had taken to open it still flowed through her; seeming to oscillate through every cell of her being. The world she knows is muffled in this space; a dull hum barely intruding on the silence that is usually found between the worlds.

Bonnie made her way around the circle to the materials required for the first barrier spell. The spell for Earth. After it was cast she would move on to Air, followed by Fire and then Water. Each spell cast one on top of the other, encasing whatever she chose to create within.

She crouched down before a large wooden and began mixing together the elements needed into a reddish brown paste; centering her thoughts on what she wanted to accomplish.

The spark of inspiration that she now attributes to the spirits filled her mind's eye and she begins to understand why one such as Bob—a relic from a time when supernaturals were something altogether different from the beings that currently walked the earth. There is no place for his kind in this world.

For while he lusts for power and covets tangibility, his nature will not suffer such things for long. He is an idea better left unrealized; the snake that consumes all including itself.

Once finished, Bonnie coated the palms of her hands with the paste and stood. With one finger she drew upon her forehead the symbol that identified her to the universe as a witch.

Closing her eyes, her mind filled with words of the first spell as her hands drew the symbol for earth in the air-allowing her magic to flow from her fingertips—and began to chant.

 **BKBKBKBK**

The second wave of their assault was having an effect. Bob's forces had successfully been hemmed in, unable to mount a sustained effort to break through their lines. The dead were piling up, making the already soggy terrain nearly impossible to navigate.

Caroline trudged through, relieved to see that the majority of those still standing were on her side. She watched as Tyler plowed into a scrum of bodies and moved to join him when the wind was knocked from her as she hit the ground hard. Stunned, she struggled to move when her eyes fluttered open to see the face of Enzo St. John looming over her.

"Hello Blondie," he growled. "Have you seen my girlfriend around anywhere?"

#

A familiar snarl drew Klaus' attention in time for him to see Celeste leaping into the chest of a vampire. The hound's teeth tore into the creature's neck transforming the vampire's scream of pain into a gurgle of blood. When the beast drew away from her kill, the hybrid watched as the dead vampire's body suddenly darkened as if charred by fire. The method by which he'd originally died, Klaus surmised.

The glint of metal out of the corner of his eye sets the hybrid off at a run in Celeste's direction; the hound already bounding off in search of another victim. Klaus leapt forward, angling himself in time to wrap his arms around Celeste's body while feeling the sting of an arrow hitting his own. Hybrid and hound landed hard in the mud, the latter struggling free from the former's hold and shaking herself violently at the contact. Klaus reached behind and pulled the arrow from his back; tossing it away in disgust.

"Watch where you're going, you confounded animal!" the hybrid demanded irritably.

The Great Dane barked out her own irritation before bolting off to continue her search. Klaus stood, cracking his neck as Marcel strode up to him.

"Where is that fucking witch in all this?!" he shouted.

"I don't know! He was with Damon and now they've both disappeared. Where's Vincent?"

"Calling back his witches. Trying to regroup for a final push," Marcel explained. "How do you think Bonnie's doing?

Klaus looked in the direction he knew Bonnie had gone, nodding for Marcel to follow his line of sight. A swirling vortex of energy had formed in the sky directly behind the main house. It lit up the night in a brilliant display of blues and purples. The air was beginning to pulse with the magic emanating from that area.

"I would say she's about ready for Bob to find her," the hybrid replied, marveling at the fact that his tiny, unassuming, fuzzy slipper-wearing mate had opened a hole in the universe while at the same time steeling himself against the desire to run to her and stop this before Bob reached her.

He turned instead and surveyed the landscape. The fight had been hammered down into a multitude of skirmishes that peppered his view. They had been outnumbered and mightily so; and yet they'd managed to turn those overwhelming numbers into a disadvantage-turned Bob's army into a quicksand of its own making. Their allies had all taken significant casualties, but it was quite evident which side was carrying the momentum.

It is then that the hybrid sees a figure in the distance. Focusing on it, he recognizes the witch he's been seeking:

Logan.

He was calmly making his way through the bodies that littered his path before finally finding a small space on which he could stand steadily.

Klaus sped off a moment later, hell bent on removing Logan's head from his shoulders. He was just within reach when he suddenly felt his body come to a complete and abrupt stop; the aftershock of such a violent change in momentum reverberated through his bones.

The hybrid struggled against Logan's hold, searching for a weak spot. Unable to break free, he snarled.

"You will not win this! How many more of yours will we need to kill for you to understand that?"

Logan stood before him, his arm outstretched. He looked around at the fallen and considered the hybrid's words.

"Oh…" the witch said simply. "I think you've killed just about enough."

A chant sprang from Logan's lips and was quickly picked up by solitaries within hearing distance.

The hybrid gritted his teeth against the gathering of magic he felt surrounding him. An icy vein of dread descended as he watched the bodies of their fallen enemies—dead and torn—began to twitch and tremble with new life. The purpose of Elena Gilbert's blood revealed as hundreds upon hundreds of the dead rose as one. He heard shouts from Marcel, urging their forces to fall back.

Logan smiled widely, looking down to watch a headless body begin to crawl by.

"Now…what was that about winning?"

#

"Looks like Logan finally sprang his little trap," Enzo announced and he slammed Caroline into a tree; his hand wrapped around her throat as he pinned her to it.

"That adorable little army my lady put together is about to go up in smoke, Blondie. Now how about you guarantee them quick deaths by telling me what Bonnie's cooking up back there?"

"What's the matter? Too chickenshit to go find out for yourself?" The blonde croaked.

A sharp yank later and she'd been thrown to the ground, Enzo's knees dug painfully into her shoulders.

"I told you she'd be difficult," Enzo called behind him.

Caroline's eyes widened as she watched Elena crouch down next to him.

"That you did, my love," came the reply. "Perhaps I'll have better luck."

Brown eyes bore into blue and Caroline blinked back tears as Elena's blood and dirt covered face dominated her field of vision.

"You might as well tell me since I'm going to claim her regardless. Better to land on my good side now than fail in the attempt later. What's waiting for me back there?"

The event that had formed above was the likes of which he'd never seen; the purpose of it escaping his imagination.

Caroline laughed brokenly as she continued to struggle beneath Enzo. "One hundred and fifteen pounds of whoop ass," she wheezed.

Elena's eyes lingered a moment longer before she stood. "So be it. Looks like I've got a date with destiny," she sighed. "Enzo, darling…do with her what you will."

#

Stefan reloaded the assault rifle slung from his shoulder. The dead were swarming. Weapons designed to affect werewolf or vampire were now useless as these beings weren't alive; only reanimated and driven to attack.

He laid down a suppressing fire, the force of the shots slowing them while he motioned everyone that was left toward Marcel's sound of retreat; bringing up the rear as they fled.

He slowed when he came upon a vampire hunched over one of Vincent's witches; fangs buried deep in her neck. He raised his rifle to fire when the vampire's head snapped up. Despite being covered in blood and grime, the ice blue of his eyes was unmistakable.

"Damon," Stefan whispered.

The vampire smirked as if he'd expected to find Stefan standing there all along.

"Hello, brother."

"Get away from her," Stefan demanded.

Damon looked down, as if surprised to see someone still in his arms, "Who her? She's already dead," he explained dropping the witch's body into the mud unceremoniously.

Stefan trained his rifle on his brother as he we watched him get to his feet.

"I've got to hand it to you, Stefan," Damon began. "Tonight's the first chance I've gotten to splurge on _real_ witch blood in long time. I mean the solitary stuff is _ok_...but nowhere near as potent. I don't know how you've managed to live around here the past few days with all of this walking around willy nilly."

"It's easy when you've got your priorities straight," Stefan replied.

Damon hummed, "Ever the fuddy duddy. So what's the plan? Are you going to riddle me with bullets?" The vampire began to walk slowly towards Stefan. "I wonder…will that hero hair be able to sit as high once you've killed your own brother?"

"You're not my brother," Stefan replied.

"Yeah keep telling yourself that." Damon snorted. "I'm more your brother now than I've ever been. Did it ever occur to you that the reason you've fallen off the wagon so many times is because the Ripper is who you're supposed to be? If you put down the gun, my master can free you from all the petty bullshit that's holding you back." The vampire stood and watched as Stefan fended off a cluster of the dead.

"I think that piece of shit has taken enough from me already, thanks." Stefan panted.

Damon outstretched his arms. "I'm still here, brother. You didn't want to go through eternity without me and you don't have to. You don't have to be alone. Just put the gun down."

Stefan stood silently for a moment, taking in the image of his brother before him. He slowly lifted the rifle's shoulder strap and let the weapon fall to the earth.

Damon smiled, "See there? I knew you could never kill me."

Stefan looked down at the rifle at his feet before facing the vampire.

"No…I could never kill you the way our father killed us."

He lunged at Damon and they both went tumbling; the disembodied hands of the dead grasping blindly at them.

They dissolved into a series of hard wet thuds as they traded blows before Damon finally managed to fling Stefan away for him. They leapt at each other again, grappling before Stefan kicked down hard, shattering on of Damon's knees. The vampire crumpled, shouting in pain before striking out and missing his target. Stefan grasped Damon's wrist and twisted; breaking it before plunging a fist into his brother's chest.

Stefan felt his fingers close around Damon's heart, "I never wanted this for you," he cried, uncaring that his words fell on deaf ears. "I want you to have a life. _A real life_ ,"

His fingers tightened around the heart, squeezing it, "I promise to live mine for the both of us" he gritted out before tearing his hand from Damon's chest and taking the vampire's heart with him.

Stefan stood numbly; still gripping his brother's heart as he watched Damon's body fall to the ground. His eyes squeezed shut as he tried to marshal the whirlwind of emotion that sprang up at the reality of what he'd just done.

Failing, he dropped to his knees and cried.

 **BKBKBKBK**

"Now what, pray tell are you doing all the way back here?"

Bonnie looked up at the sound of Elena's voice, her heart sinking.

There stood the girl who had once been her sister. Her hair was still damp from the rain; her skin still healing from the vervain.

"Waiting for you of course," the witch replied with false sweetness.

She'd expected Bob to come to her by way of Enzo. She'd braced herself for seeing a man she'd loved one last time and under the worst possible circumstances. Elena as a vampire should not have been possible. Elena had taken the cure. And their experience with Katherine and the cure had shown that even if it had been drained from her body, she couldn't be turned again. And that with the cure no longer in her body, she'd begun to deteriorate rapidly.

And yet here Elena stood, clearly a vampire.

"How?" The witch asked.

"I suppose I should thank you," Bob answered, understanding her question. "While we have no idea what exactly it was you did to sever the link between you and… _this_ ," he began, waving a hand lazily before him.

"Logan says," he continued, "that whatever it was, involved a rather astounding amount of dark magic. So much that it not only severed the link, it burned the cure out of her system like it never existed and—how did he put it? _Restored her back to her original factory settings_. It's as if she'd never been turned in the first place. And if she'd never been turned before…" he trailed off.

"Then she could be turned again," the witch finished dryly.

"I have always been fond of a happy accident," Bob confided, eyes gleaming. "Anyway, Logan drained all that lovely blood from her and made certain she ingested a bit of Enzo's before she died. After that, all she needed was to complete the transition—something with which her dear brother was more than helpful."

Bonnie's jaw tightened at that; her anger flaring both through her and through her magic. The earth trembled violently in response.

Bob couldn't help the wide grin that bloomed as the witch stood in the midst of her fiery circle. All of his senses were tuned to magic; perceiving things in ways that other cannot.

So when he looked upon the witch in her current state, he barely registered the rivulets of blood flowing from her eyes; the blood pouring from her nose.

Instead, his vision saw the air surrounding her as it pulsed with the magic emanating from her. Thick enough to almost touch. He found he had to swallow the urge to open his mouth; half expecting to feel it melt on his tongue like a snowflake. He focused on the twin blue flames of it flickering from the open windows of her eyes and watched it escape her lips with each breath. He saw her skin cracked and split, her magic bleeding through.

For a moment, he regretted no longer inhabiting either Damon or Enzo; for he finds he would much rather have the dull ache of an erection at the sight of her over the warm fluttering occurring deep in the doppelganger's belly.

She was magic come to life; and yet she simply stood there, quietly seething over the deaths of a couple of meat puppets.

"You are a rare find, Bonnie Bennett," he said. "Tell me, the amount of magic you're drawing on…have you reached your limit?" It was an honest question, born of a genuine curiosity; the earnest inquiry of one preparing to acquire.

The witch's shoulders shifted as she hummed thoughtfully. "Honestly? I don't know," she said finally.

Bob smiled. "I'm going to enjoy finding out for myself."

"Don't count on it, Bob."

"What is this?" he asked, abruptly changing the subject and drawing closer to the circle.

"A thousand years locked in my basement and you don't know a trap when you see one?" Bonnie scoffed, shaking her head in disappointment.

"If you acknowledge what it is, then why would you expect me to fall for it?"

"Because to catch a big fish you need big bait," Bonnie answered, stepping closer. "And I'm too big to resist aren't I? Besides, if you do manage to get what you came for…getting out of this won't be a problem for you at all."

Bob walked up to the circle without entering it. Bonnie watched as Elena's hand reached out expecting to touch something and coming up empty. She allowed her magic to flare brightly, the action causing whiskey colored eyes to roll closed to savor its potency. Bonnie smirked at the display.

"It's like I said, Bob…if you want me—"

Bonnie's words were cut off as Elena's hands wrapped around her upper arms and squeezed. The doppelganger's face broke into a twisted smile as Bob stood before her inside the circle.

"Such a pleasure to finally meet you."

 **BKBKBKBK**

Caroline's fist connected with Enzo jaw, causing his head to snap back. She'd managed to buck the vampire off of her, sending him tumbling over her head. They continued to trade blows until Enzo slammed her hard into earth; kicking her and breaking several ribs. She rolled onto her stomach, grimacing at the movement and began to crawl.

"You know…I always liked you, Blondie," Enzo started, delivering another hard kick. "All that sparkly idealism. But where has it gotten you? Look where you are now."

Caroline ignored him, continuing to crawl. She'd lost her helmet long ago; her hair now tangled with blood and dirt. She pulled herself along as Enzo stalked her, no real destination in mind. Just an awareness that if she stopped, she would die.

She saw the bodies of wolves and witches she knew and had no choice but to attempt to climb over them as they lay in her path. She'd nearly cleared them when she felt a hand wrap around her ankle, yanking her hard. Caroline turned to see one of Bob's reanimated attempting to drag her backwards. The creature was soon joined by another who appeared near her head.

"Let's do you a favor and get this over with, shall we?" Enzo suggested, watching as the blonde struggled to free herself.

He crouched down over her and raised his hand-prepared to thrust it into Caroline's chest—when her own shot up, recognizing the end of a stake protruding out of the creature at her head. She tore it from him with one hand, while blocking Enzo's strike with the other. She grasped the stake tightly before driving it upward and into Enzo chest, piercing his heart.

The vampire fell forward onto her; his dead weight pressing her into the soft ground. She faintly heard Tyler shouting. A moment later, Enzo's weight was suddenly lifted from her. There was a flash of fire and the two reanimated that held her went up in flames.

Caroline cried out in pain as Tyler hauled her to her feet. He had one of Vincent's witches with him; an older woman now set to the task engulfing any and all of the enemy in flames.

"We have to go!" Tyler shouted.

"How are we going to stop this?!" Caroline cried in frustration. The reanimated were everywhere as she scanned their makeshift battlefield.

"Fire." The werewolf answered. "Vincent's got an idea but we need to pull everyone back." He threw one of her arms around his shoulders and helped her across the field in the direction of the others.

#

" _Stefan! Stefan! Where are you?!_ " The walkie attached to the shoulder of his body army demanded in Vincent's voice. He numbly reached for it and clicked it on, his eyes never leaving Damon's body.

"I'm here," he croaked, his voice thick.

"We need to get everyone back to home base! We're torching everything!"

Stefan shook himself from his reverie and looked around. He spotted several of Chloe's wolves dragging the wounded to safety. He took one last look at his brother before getting to his feet.

"I'm on my way," he answered, already moving in to help.

#

Logan stood before the hybrid he'd frozen in place. Damon hadn't exaggerated as this Mikaelson was proving to be powerful enough to test the strength of the spell itself.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't concerned with how the night's events were unfolding. _This was taking too long_. Neither Damon nor Enzo were anywhere to be found, his solitaries were steadily depleting and his master still hadn't claimed the Bennett Witch.

 _Bonnie Bennett_. Damon hadn't exaggerated about her either. First the rain disrupted their plan-turning what should have been fast and perfunctory into a test of endurance—and now there was a massive amount of power building toward the northside of this godforsaken property. Massive enough for one to question its purpose and massive enough to find the answer unfathomable.

It's that awareness that allows an icy finger of doubt to invade his resolve. That causes him to consider that perhaps the Bennett witch is not just more than advertised, but a great deal more. For while there are a number of ways in which a solitary witch's magic can compensate for their lack of a bloodline, he knows that there is nothing at his disposal to compensate for whatever the hell his master's prize is cooking up north of this bloodbath.

If this didn't end soon…if his master didn't do all that he'd promised…

A tremor surged through Logan's magic, giving voice to his fears. His reanimation spell was still in place, the dead clamoring after everything within their reach. From his vantage point, he could see that the Bennett witch's forces were regrouping as far back as their original position. Their dead littered the landscape as they seemingly prepared themselves for a last stand against his surging corpses. A relatively small number of his witches still lived and of their ranks, many were fallen from depletion.

The tremor intensified and the witch knew that he could not continue to fuel the reanimation spell while still holding the hybrid in place. Even now, he can feel the beast straining against the confines of the spell. When he finally broke through, Logan would have little left to offer a prolonged defense.

 _So he'd better make the most of it_.

The spell shattered like glass around the hybrid's body as he fell to his hands and knees. Klaus raised his head slowly. His face now more wolf than man; the hairs on his jawline longer and more pronounced. Unruly blonde curls were shot through with black; his eyes, golden orbs that reflected the rage rolling off of him in waves. His lips curled, baring razor sharp teeth as an unearthly growl rumbled out of him.

Logan called on the last available vestiges of his power.

"Oh no, hybrid. I didn't come here to die at the hands of some magical accident," he hissed, hitting the beast with a blast of energy that only angered him as he kept charging. The witch hit him again, relieved to see the hybrid stumble as aneurysm after aneurysm exploded in his brain. They would not slow him for long, the witch knew as he tried to back away; continuing to pour on wave after wave of pain as he retreated.

The low growl behind him stopped the witch in his tracks.

He turned his head slowly, the large black dog he'd seen with the Bennett witch came into view. The animal snarled, hackles raised as Logan heard the instant his magic ceased to be a nuisance to the hybrid.

Logan closed his eyes and prayed one last time for his master's victory before hound and hybrid fell upon him, ripping him to shreds.

#

Klaus stood over what little remained of Logan. Celeste had taken to venting her frustrations by furiously shaking what may have once been Logan's shoulder between her teeth as if she and Bonnie were playing with one of her chew toys.

"Good girl."

 **BKBKBKBK**

Bob gripped the witch's arms tightly; her magic searing him.

Bonnie watched as Elena's eyes darkened into ink black orbs. A substance equally as dark wafted from them like smoke.

His power slowly began to pick at her; attempting to access her mind the way he had Damon and Enzo. Trying to find the key to his entry. The low hanging fruit of memory and reverie could usually be attained with ease and through them, the invitation for his admittance.

"I so wanted to take my time peeling away at you before taking up residence," he began, making note that he could no longer sense Logan, Damon or Enzo. "But unfortunately, time appears to be of the essence." He shoved her away hard, sending her flying.

Bonnie landed hard, her magic flaring at the impact. She jumped to her feet quickly, her fists engulfed in blue flame to Bob's eyes.

"You really picked the wrong body for this," the witch gritted out.

"And why is that?"

"Didn't Damon tell you? She never really learned how to fight for herself. She'll tap out long before I do." Bonnie answered, sending a wave of power and following it up with a shoulder to Elena's abdomen as she tackled her. They felt magic displace like water around them as they struggled.

Elena's fingers sank into Bonnie's hair like talons, gripping her skull. A whirlwind of images erupted in the witch's mind, as if someone were flipping through the photo album of her life. Searching for the ones best suited for piercing her and making her pain tangible.

 _Grams lying on her bed as she screamed for her to wake up…_

 _Walking into her mother's house and finding only Caroline sitting there…_

 _Finding Damon before he chose to desiccate…_

 _Kneeling broken and powerless before the vastness of the vault and calling out for Enzo…_

 _A monster with Stefan's face slitting her father's throat_ …

It all rapidly passed by with an undercurrent of urgency.

Bonnie struggled against Elena's weight, freeing her hands. She drove the heel of one upward, connecting with the doppelganger's nose and breaking their connection before flipping them both over.

"Fun fact?" she panted, "My memories don't hurt me anymore." She drove her fist into the doppelganger's face, her magic increasing the force of the blow and leaving Bob momentarily stunned.

Straddling Elena, she gripped her dark hair firmly with one hand as the other removed Tunde's blade from her waistband. She held the weapon aloft, as the words of the fifth spell—a curse—came forth; damning her enemy to a realm of no escape. To forever remain the outsider looking in; dwelling in the shadow of reality. A place where neither heartbeat nor breath can exist; where magic… _where_ _life_ … is made impotent to all, save its creator.

In one smooth motion, Bonnie plunged the blade into Elena's chest and felt the spell lock into place; activating all four barrier spells. She watched as the prison world formed around them; the world she'd built a reflection of the world she knew, yet awash in shades of gray. The familiar disconnect she associated with the Other Side came over her. To see and hear the world she was born into yet not be part of it.

She scrambled away from Elena's body, feeling the ground shift violently beneath her as she struggled to her feet. She watched as Papa Tunde's blade continued to bury itself within her chest; disappearing from view.

Elena thrashed about violently, her body seizing as fountains of inky blackness flowed from every orifice. She vomited up the darkness that was Bob even as her own body began to disintegrate; her skin flaking off and catching the current of magic swirling around them all as her body was broken down into nothingness.

The black substance pooled around itself; the malice and rage emanating from it unable to mask the fear and dread. She watched Bob slither about frantically; breaking apart and reforming in desperation to find an exit.

Uncaring, Bonnie walked over to Elena's remains, Tunde's blade now resting on a bed of ash. Angry tears pricked her eyes as she bent to pick it up; registering a weariness beginning to seep into her bones.

She turned to face Bob "I'm going to kill you for what you did to her…to all of them. I don't know when and I don't know how, but one day I'm going to come back here and wipe you out. And by the time that happens, you're going to want me to," she explained, moving to stand before him.

"You see out there, you're a primordial evil capable of fucking with people minds and ripping away all that they are," she continued, crouching down. "But in here…you're just a _really_ animated oil slick, and I'm the god that can only bring you death. So start praying that I figure out how."

Bonnie stood, gripping Tunde's blade tightly. The dark object was now a key. The only means by which this world could be accessed—and even then only by way of Bennett magic.

She closed her eyes, and recited the spell for closing the portal. When she opened them, she stood alone within her circle; Bob along with Elena's remains were gone. Locked away in a small pocket of the universe that was now powered by the earth itself. Nothing short of the destruction of the planet would be able to cause Bob's prison to collapse.

The earth shook beneath her as her hold on both the comet's energy and the ley lines began to falter with the telltale signs of depletion. She released her hold on the comet and with it, a portion of a weight that was quickly becoming burdensome.

When she turned her focus toward releasing the ley lines, she heard a rumble within the bowels of the earth; a deep groaning as she began to disentangle the faint remnants of her magic from their power. The more she released, the more aware she became of how drained her body was from her efforts. Her legs shook as they fought to keep her upright against the tremors.

Once free from the energy of the ley pool, her shoulders bowed and she felt the rivulets of blood flowing from both her eyes, nose and mouth.

She stumbled forward, intending the leave the circle when she heard the earth groan again, followed by a deafening cracking sound as the ground dropped out from beneath her.

#

Klaus tore his way through the dead, frustrated with their resilience. Logan was dead, but like the hamster wheel that continues to turn after its furry owner has departed, his reanimation spell would run its course before the bodies of the dead finally dropped.

He turned to continue his assault when he felt Celeste behind him, tugging on his pant leg with her teeth. He was about to shake the beast off when he began to sense for himself what had spurred her. He looked in the direction of Bonnie's ritual. The vortex overhead was now closed and he could feel her through the bond. She was _alive_. Depleted, but alive. However that did not account for the surge of magic he was now feeling.

A moment later and he saw a brilliant flash of light coming from the area he know their forces were retreating toward; Celeste's yanking on him becoming more urgent.

Without another thought, he threw the great beast over his shoulder and sped off, realizing the flash of light was actually a wave of fire rushing towards them, consuming everything in its path.

Needing to find high ground, he leapt up and into the trees with Celeste in tow; avoiding the flames as they roared by.

The south lawn was ablaze. The reanimated still trying to move even as their bodies burned away.

Klaus watched from his perch, Celeste still calmly in his arms. The absurdity of their predicament did not escape him.

"We won't be speaking of this to Bonnie, now will we?" He asked the hound dryly.

#

Bonnie clung to the edge by her fingertips. Her legs dangled in the open space; unable to clearly see the size or the depth of the cavern that had been created. The amount of power flowing back and forth from the ley pool had managed to break the earth before it broke her, she chuckled to herself, sadly.

She knew that it would be a long drop. Too long a drop to survive. The muscles in her arms strained, attempting to find the strength to lift herself and coming up empty. Her fingers grabbed frantically at soil still too damp to find traction. Tears of frustration sprang up as she clawed and scratched uselessly.

 _She'd done it_. She'd harnessed the power of the _earth_. Harnessed the power of a _comet_. Opened a hole in the universe, created a new world and banished Bob from this one.

And now she was dangling on the edge of her death but a moment later.

She'd been so close.

A bitter laugh bubbled from her like bile. _There was no one_. No one close enough to hear her cry for help. No one close enough to see that she was falling into a hole in the world and couldn't pick herself up.

Her laughter continued; flirting with the edges of her sanity until finally fading away to be replaced by her acceptance.

The world was safe. It was enough. _It would have to be enough_. Because one fact remained as true now as it had when she was a teenager:

 _It never ended well for people like her_.

She closed her eyes as the strength in her fingers finally gave and she fell...

Only to be jerked to a stop a moment later.

Bonnie opened her eyes and looked up as she hung suspended mid-air; her tiny wrist caught in the firm grasp of Klaus Mikaelson.

The hybrid pulled her up and cradled her trembling body in his arms. Bonnie openly gaped at him; her eyes wide with shock and disbelief, as the small smile she loved so dearly began to curve his lips.

"Hello, Mr. Frodo," he said softly.

Something between a laugh and a sob barked out of her as her arms tightened around his neck as her face crumpled, tears flowing freely. She hid in the crook of his neck; her heart bursting with relief as her body shook with the well-earned bawl she'd promised herself.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Bonnie stood next to Klaus by the edge of the remarkably large hole she'd nearly fallen into. It had been two days since that night. All who remained were healed or healing, the south lawn cleared of the remains of the fallen, leaving behind only scorched earth.

She looked to the left and right of her; seeing Caroline, Stefan, the five alphas, Tyler, Vince and Marcel. They'd all taken heavy losses; their dead having been both mourned and celebrated around the great bonfire at the wolf encampment.

They would all be leaving soon—once all the healing and packing was done.

"Damn…thing goes all the way to the bottom, doesn't it?" Vincent whistled, leaning over the side.

"Mmhm…" Stefan nodded, peering over as well. "Way to go, Bon," chided teasingly.

Bonnie poked her tongue out at him. "I didn't mean to. It couldn't handle all that power moving through it." She shrugged, "In any case, I am not going to have a giant sinkhole in my back yard. It's tacky."

"Mmhm…" She heard Klaus and several others answer.

They fell silent, staring down into the vastness below.

"So where do we go from here?" Caroline asked aloud, finally giving voice to what they were all thinking.

They'd all come together out of necessity. Fought a threat dangerous to all of them and they'd won. But where did that leave the wounds of the past?

Was all forgiven? Probably not. But now it was weighed and measured against the events of the past several days. The days in which they'd fought and bled together; in which they'd suffered and lost together. The scales sat unbalanced in ways they hadn't anticipated.

Bonnie sighed, getting to her knees. She dug her fingertips into the earth.

She called upon her magic, feeling it warm her hands and the ground beneath them. It reached down, intending to delve deep and connect to the energy of the ley pool, when instead she felt the energy of the pool reach up, embracing hers like an old friend.

Her eyes narrowed, making note of this change as spell after spell began to fall from her lips. Those standing took large steps backward as the ground began to tremble beneath them.

Bonnie pushed her magic outward as she felt the earth shift and stir; beginning to refill the cavern. It continued to spread across the property; healing the scorched earth of the south lawn and coaxing the tips of new blades of grass to break through its richness.

Satisfied, Bonnie stood, dusting her hands off on her jeans. She reached out for Klaus; her fingers intertwining with his and smiled when he drew that same hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.

"The old world's passed away," she said finally, answering Caroline's question.

"Time to build a new one and see what happens."

_  
A/N: The final chapter is already posted


	25. The Minutes After

**The Minutes After**

" _Time, the ultimate truth teller" – Katy Perry_

Klaus glanced over to the passenger seat as he drove. The closer they got to Bonnie's, the more Haley seemed to fidget. A glance into his rearview mirror revealed that Hope didn't share her mother's anxiousness as she curled up in the back seat; her eyes focused on her tablet.

"You're fretting over nothing," Klaus chided.

After he'd arrived in Vermont two months ago, he recounted to Haley the events leading up to the Battle of the Cauldron as it was now being called.

Haley had been relieved when she saw him striding up to her front door when he first arrived, telling her that he had the means to revive Elijah and the others. But her face fell slightly when she discovered that the "means" came by way of Bonnie Bennett and that they would all live with her for the time being.

 _"Do we have to?" She asked._

 _"Why wouldn't we?"_

 _"Because while you're clearly on her good side now, the same might not be said about me."_

 _Klaus' eyes narrowed._ _"And what exactly have you done to Bonnie?"_

 _"Nothing. It's just that I don't know her and pretty much the only things she probably knows about me is that I had a hand in getting Tyler's mother killed and whatever else Caroline Forbes might have told her."_

 _Haley could admit that her need to discover more about her family had driven her to do things back then that she'd been ashamed of even while she was doing them._

 _Tyler had considered her a friend, and still she manipulated him as well as the rest of Klaus' hybrids; tricking them into trying to kill Klaus only to set them up for their own slaughter. And while he hadn't killed Tyler for Caroline's sake, he did murder Carol Lockwood as punishment._

 _Those deaths were on her head just as much as Klaus' and his relationship with the Bennett witch didn't guarantee that things were suddenly square between her and any member of the Mystic Falls gang._

 _Klaus considered her words. He knew that if Bonnie was holding a grudge, she'd have said something by now._

 _"Luckily, Hope is your insurance policy. Bonnie would never intentionally leave a child motherless," he smirked._

 _"Just because she wouldn't kill me doesn't mean she wouldn't screw me over. Witches have long ass memories and know more than one way get some payback."_

 _"Fair point," Klaus mused. "My Bonnie is nothing if not creative. But I daresay that you have nothing to fear from her. Caroline on the other hand..."_

 _"Is she going to be there too?"_ _The annoyance in her voice making him chuckle._

 _"According to Bonnie, she and Stefan are off to spend time with her daughters. But I think it's safe to say that she'll be a very frequent visitor._

 _"Great..." He heard Haley grumble._

Here they were two months later and Haley was just as uneasy now as she had been then. Klaus shook his head and turned his eyes back to the road. If only she knew the one most likely to still have a fairly high ranking on Bonnie's shit list, was her beloved Elijah.

It had been two months since he parted from the witch. Two months for Hope to be at ease with the idea of leaving the only home she'd ever known with a father she didn't remember.

He'd had an idea of what to expect, but it didn't compare to the reality of the child's indifference upon meeting him. Haley had spoken of him often over the years; but for one so young, he had become nothing more than a story repeatedly read. Familiar...but no more real than any other bedtime tale.

It had taken time, but little by little, Hope began to adjust to his presence in her life, even going so far as to seek him out in the trailer he occupied when her curiosity finally got the best of her.

He would credit his time among the Five Packs for the level of ease with which he was able to dwell amongst these wolves. The differences between the Five Packs and those around him now were stark. And when his own pack joined him for the full moons, the differences were even more glaring. It was a way of carrying oneself more than anything, he supposed.

There was no question that Haley and Hope had been treated well. As his daughter, Hope was already a member of the Northeast Atlantic Pack by blood. And despite being wary of her mother's lineage, Haley had been embraced as well.

But like the wolves in the bayou, these were just as committed to a life of evasion and isolation; living on the outskirts and subsisting on odd jobs or the occasional dalliance with the wrong side of the law.

He was indebted to them for sheltering his daughter and her mother. But those wolves and the fears that drove them were not the kind he wanted Hope surrounded by for longer than necessary.

"Are we there yet?" Hope asked, turning to peer out of the window.

"Just about, sweetheart," the hybrid answered fondly.

At first it had been slow going; getting Hope to accept him. The child had inherited a healthy dose of her father's skepticism. Talking with her had been like pulling teeth; his efforts to draw her out resulting in monosyllabic responses at best and complete silence at worst.

But as each day passed, curt responses evolved into hesitant questions. She started to seek him out even if she lingered only a few moments. Before long, she began to inquire as to when he would visit, knowing well enough that not a day had gone by when he hadn't.

They took to roaming the woods while she regaled him with tales of school and her friends and he entertained her with stories of his tamer pursuits.

When Hope was in school, his days were filled with unearthing contacts, reestablishing financial connections and recovering assets that had been all but ignored since Marcel passed sentence.

But while his afternoons and evenings belonged to Hope, his nights that extended into the early hours of the morning belonged to Bonnie.

The wonders of modern technology did little to distract from the fact that he missed his witch. He missed the feel of her breath against his neck when she slept. He found that he'd even started clenching an unclenching his right hand; his mind unwilling to process the absence of hers within it. What started as a persistent tightness in his chest, bloomed into a constant ache; not strong enough to hinder, but enough to know that something...that _someone_ was missing.

The visceral nature of their separation weighed heavily, the sound of her voice offering only temporary comfort, while the bond plagued him with the knowledge that her gentle heart endured the same.

Things finally came to a head when Hope happened to overhear her parents discussing a possible timeline for their departure from Vermont and relocation to Maryland.

Hearing that her long lost father planned to move them away from everyone and everything caused the child to do what Klaus suspected most children did when faced with upheaval:

She ran away.

 _As her father, he was able to sense Hope's distress. She was not in any danger, but his preternatural awareness of her told him that she was confused, frightened and angry. He shifted into his wolf and set off after her._

 _He found her curled up into the tiniest ball on a bed of fallen leaves; her cheeks stained with tears as she slept fitfully. Rather than wake her, he laid down beside her; the heat of his body and the softness of his fur keeping her warm. When she awakened an hour later and realized that she'd been found, she gloomily began the trek to his trailer, her father padding along close at her heels._

" _Why do you want to make us move away?" She asked softly, once he was dressed and on two feet again. She lay on his couch and eyed him sadly._

" _There is a witch in Maryland," Klaus began, crouching down before her. "And she's going to help us heal your aunts and uncles."_

 _The child's eyes widened, "But why do we have to move away? Why can't we go and come back?"_

" _Because this was never meant to be our home, Hope," he said gently. "This was never meant to be our family's home."_

" _Then where are we supposed to be?"_

 _The hybrid was quiet for a moment, choosing his words carefully as the answer was a great deal more complicated now than it would have been seven years ago._

" _That is something that we will decide once our family is whole again. And the witch who's helping us with that is a part of this family as well."_

" _She is?" the child asked, frowning in suspicion. "How?"_

" _Because she's my mate," he replied carefully, studying the child's response to the word and seeing that her young mind wasn't fully grasping his meaning._

" _She's my wife," he amended, smiling as her eyes widened in surprise and understanding._

" _When did you get married?" She gasped._

" _Six weeks ago."_

" _Did you have a honeymoon?"_

 _Klaus chuckled, "Not yet. I wanted to find you first." He reached out and brushed a lock of brown hair from her forehead._

 _"I know you overheard your mother and I talking, but I don't want you to worry. We have no intention of going anywhere until you're ready. Do you understand?"_

 _He watched as Hope digested his words. Finally she sat up, making room for him to sit._

" _What's she like? She's not scary is she?" Her mother had mentioned witches before, and with the exception of her Aunt Freya, they didn't sound very friendly. It had also been explained to her that she too was a witch but the randomness and strength of her magic when it manifested frightened her so much that she never wanted anything to do with it._

 _Klaus joined her on the couch, "Well...Bonnie can be terrifying when those she loves are in danger. But she's also very smart, funny and impossibly kind."_

" _Is she pretty?"_

" _Yes, she is quite pretty," he answered with a small smile._

" _And you love her?"_

" _Very much," he replied, an image of the witch filling his mind's eye._

 _Hope watched as his eyes softened and it reminded her of the way her mother looked whenever she spoke of Uncle Elijah._

" _How did you meet her?"_

 _Klaus pulled the child into the crook of his arm. "Rather than tell you the story of how I met Bonnie, I'll tell you the story of how I came to know her, Sound good?"_

 _Hope nodded as she tucked her feet beneath her and settled her head on his shoulder._

" _Now," he began, "your mother told you that I was in a deep sleep for many years, yes?"_

 _Hope nodded, "She said it was like Sleeping Beauty."_

 _The hybrid chuckled, squeezing her. "Well I'll have you know, that Bonnie is the princess who awakened me."_

 _By the time he carried her sleeping form back to Haley, the child's mind had been filled with a tale of ancient evil and a great battle between witches, vampires and werewolves. He told her of how he'd fallen in love with a witch who lived above a cauldron of magic with a humongous dog and managed to save the world when most weren't looking._

Two weeks later, Hope was asking when they would leave and Klaus was already making preparations.

Now he drove at the head of a caravan; his pack riding behind him followed by a moving truck and a semi bearing the coffins of his siblings.

#

Bonnie perused the files Alaric left for her. He'd selected a number of grad students for possible internships.

The night she met Lucy she'd asked her how to avoid being caught in the middle of supernatural bullshit. Her answer had been of little help then, but now after all she'd seen and done over the years, it was clear that there really was no way to truly "stay out of it". Not with the amount of power at her disposal.

What her teenaged self didn't understand then, was that magic wasn't the issue. It was about manipulation. It was about being thrust to the forefront to clean up the messes made by others. It was about being called upon until her body was broken for the sake of someone else's vanity.

That was something that she would never again allow herself to be subject to again, but how?

The answer finally came when she decided to drive to New Orleans to visit Vincent and Marcel. Stefan went with her as far as Mystic Falls. After Damon's death, the vampire was done with the boardinghouse and couldn't decide if he wanted to sell it off or burn it to the ground.

Bonnie was certain that when she returned to pick him on the way back from New Orleans, she'd find him standing in front of smoldering ashes instead of a For Sale sign.

Her visit to New Orleans only lasted a couple of days by the end of which she'd been approached with an interesting proposition.

Marcel had been more than a little affected by the fact that his inner circle had been compromised by Bob's witches. Had it not been for Bonnie and her connection to the spirits, they could have very easily pulled the rug out from under him. Her access to that kind of information was nearly priceless and as such, Marcel offered keep her on retainer.

 _"I am not going to be your witch, Marcel," Bonnie laughed._

 _"That's not what I'm asking," the vampire replied, filing her wine glass. "I'm not asking you to use your magic for me. I'm not asking you to use it for anyone. I'm just saying that since you are naturally privy to information that can be useful, I'm willing to pay you for that information. And so would many others for that matter."_

 _Bonnie took a sip from her glass, brow furrowed._

 _"For instance," he continued. "While all of the vampires in New Orleans are under my rule, I think it's time to consider expanding beyond the city limits and I've got Baton Rouge in my sights. What do you think about that?"_

 _Bonnie set her glass aside. "Expansion for your kind involves creating new vampires. But I'd be careful doing too much of that Baton Rouge. And certainly not by force."_

 _Marcel leaned back in his chair, "And why is that?"_

 _The images drifted into Bonnie's mind like a melody through an open window._

 _"There is a hunter buried beneath the ruins of an old ritual site. A witch placed him there centuries ago as a warning to vampires. It's a trap."_

 _Marcel's eyes narrowed "What kind of trap?"_

 _"The hunter's life is tied to the magic in that city. It can sense all of it. And if at any point there's an overabundance of a particular kind—namely vampire—it triggers his awakening and he goes on a killing spree until all is set to rights."_

 _Marcel was quiet, digesting her words. Finally, he reached into his desk drawer and handed her a stack of bills._

 _Fifteen $1,000 bills to be exact._

 _"And just like that, you just helped me avoid a landmine that would have cost many lives and you didn't need to use an ounce of your magic to do it," he pointed out._

 _Bonnie eyes widened, "So what...you want me to be an oracle?"_

 _"Considering what you just told me...aren't you one already?" Marcel asked, eyebrow raised._

 _The question hung in the air as Bonnie chewed her bottom lip._

 _Marcel leaned back in his chair and studied her._

 _"Do you know why my kind tends to treat your kind like tools?" He asked. "It's because you don't have any influence. There hasn't been a witch whose words carried any real weight in our world in centuries. Right now, you have the very unique opportunity to change that._

 _"How much tragedy could have been averted if only one person bothered to listen to you? How many warnings went unheeded to disastrous results? How many shitshows have you had to clean up? How many of them could have been avoided altogether?_

 _"After what you just did with Bob...the only way anyone ignores the words coming out of your mouth again, is if you don't say anything. You've got a seat at the table and a winning hand, Bonnie. Are you ready to play it?"_

By the time she left New Orleans she'd received an additional fifteen thousand along with the antidote to the poison that had been injected into Freya, two vials of Marcel's blood and a way forward.

For all of Marcel's talk of seats at tables and winning hands, Bonnie knew the driving force behind the vampire's pitch.

 _Klaus_.

While he didn't intend to return to New Orleans any time soon, no one—particularly Marcel—was stupid enough to believe that the hybrid had also abandoned his pursuit of power. It was only a matter of time before the rebuild of his empire began—this iteration baring the canines of the wolf rather than the fangs of the vampire.

Whatever moves he made among the werewolves would naturally involve growth and expansion. Two things that would impact both vampires and witches in the region and placed the one person they have in common right smack in the middle.

Her discomfort with that position stemmed from the lack of control that seemed to go along with it. Marcel was right. How much could have been avoided if she'd held the same amount of influence then as she did now? If her participation— _if any_ —was on her own terms?

And so, on the drive from New Orleans, The Cauldron was born. So named for the ley pool that dwelled beneath it. She'd flippantly referred to the pool as an ancient cauldron of magic in the past, but the description was entirely accurate having been instrumental in both reconnecting her to the spirits and constructing Bob's prison world.

The Armory's original mandate would remain intact, but it would also become an extension of her own. Its resources would focus on the preservation and maintenance of the balance. The Cauldron would maintain a position of neutrality when it came to the political intrigues of the supernatural, intervening only when any action landed in direct conflict with its mandate.

As for herself...she'd never really considered the oracular nature of her relationship to the spirits before. But it was there. They whispered things to her that she couldn't possibly know and offered direction when the path was unseen. And while she was no Pythia and The Cauldron was no Temple of Apollo at Delphi, she knew that there would be those who would seek her out for the counsel the spirits could provide.

Now, weeks later, Alaric was putting together a staff for the main office, Marcel had referred several to her for consultation, Vincent was recommending several witches for employment and Klaus would be arriving soon with his family in tow.

She'd thrown herself into Cauldron business during the hybrid's absence. When she wasn't doing that, she was helping Caroline with wedding plans and when she wasn't doing _that_ , she was doing anything that would take her mind off of the Klaus-sized hole in her heart that seemed to be taking forever to fill.

He'd loomed large in her life and his absence only highlighted how much space he took up. Her bed now felt massive and empty and there wasn't a corner of her home that didn't call up some inconsequential memory that made her eyes sting.

She'd even caught Celeste peering into his old bedroom, only to move on in a huff when she found it empty. She didn't know what had happened between Klaus and Celeste, but whatever it was had put them on better terms before he'd left.

Bonnie continued flipping through her files when the sudden awareness of Klaus overtook her. It wasn't unusual as such feelings travelled through the bond merely at the thought of one another. However the sense of his nearness now didn't carry with it the usual ache-

 _His nearness_.

"Oh my god…" she gasped, jumping up, files spilling everywhere. She raced out of the bedroom and down the stars, startling several interns as she ran through the halls and outside to the courtyard.

The black SUV leading the caravan stopped along with the cars and motorcycles behind it. The trucks were waved behind to the cargo bay.

Bonnie skidded to a stop; her heart leaping in her chest as she spied a head of unruly blonde curls exiting the SUV.

One minute he'd been nearly gnashing his teeth in impatience, the next minute she was standing in his line of sight.

Her hair had grown longer, the chocolate curls lifting off her shoulders in the breeze as she bounced on the balls of her feet.

The moment he cleared the vehicle, she picked up her the flowing skirt she wore and ran to him; abandoning all thought the second she felt his arms around her.

They held each other tightly; Bonnie's flats dangled from her toes before they gave up entirely and clattered onto the cobblestone as Klaus' lips found hers.

They breathed as one, each filling their lungs after weeks of feeling as though they were gasping for air. They fit together in that moment, the final puzzles pieces that turn a mystery into a revelation.

The sound of a throat clearing politely, separated them as Klaus set Bonnie back on her feet.

Haley and Hope were standing there along with Klaus' pack. His wolves filed by, greeting Bonnie warmly before being shoo'd inside to find something to eat.

Bonnie and extended her hand, "Hi Haley."

"Hi," the hybrid answered awkwardly. "I can't thank you enough for what you're doing for all of us," she said, taking the witch's hand.

Bonnie shrugged, "We're family now, right? I'm glad I can help."

She turned to Hope and smiled, "Hi Hope. I'm Bonnie."

The child hadn't taken her eyes off of the witch from moment they arrived. _This_ was the witch of her father's stories? She didn't look big enough to do all the stuff he said she'd done. Instead she looked like one of the fairies in her storybooks minus the wings.

"I'm really happy to meet you," the witch continued. "Your Dad's told me a lot about you." She held out her hand, hoping the girl would take it.

Hope hesitated at first, but the moment their hands touched, her magic flared in that way that always scared her. Her eyes widened in panic until Bonnie's hand squeezed hers gently.

"You know when I first came into my powers," Bonnie began, her eyes never leaving Hope's. "The same thing would happen to me. But my Grams said that it was just my magic trying to get to know me. That it wasn't trying to hurt me and to just breathe through it…because my magic is only as unruly as I am."

She smiled encouragingly as she watched the child calm herself; her breathing slowly returning to normal. Soon, she felt Hope's magic begin to level out; coursing gently throughout her tiny frame, oscillating beneath her skin.

The girl's eyes brightened as her magic flowed harmlessly through her. It made her feel like running as fast as she could through the woods after a spring rain; the rush of jumping from a great height and not crashing to the ground.

Grinning, she shook Bonnie's hand excitedly.

" _Not bad, huh?_ " Bonnie asked, nodding knowingly before winking at Klaus.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Klaus climbed the stairs to their bedroom. After the events of the past few days, he really had no choice but the marvel at how life unfolded in the nearly _two years_ since Bonnie pulled Tunde's blade from his chest.

After his siblings had been revived and sorted, the task of acclimating to the changes that had taken place while they'd slept hadn't been easy despite the relative brevity of their slumber. From Klaus' disinterest in reclaiming New Orleans to Bonnie being his mate and every new development in between, the first several weeks had been tumultuous for the Mikaelsons.

All but Rebekah were hesitant about the changes that had taken place in their brother's life. While they slumbered, he'd gone and laid the foundation for a life outside of the one he'd shared with his with them for so many centuries.

The love and fidelity was there as it always would be, but the grappling hooks of guilt and obligation that he'd sunken into them and yanked whenever it suited him were gone. The freedom that Rebekah had all but killed him to achieve was suddenly laid at their feet.

Eventually, Rebekah, Freya and Kol each set out, hoping to lay foundations of their own while only Elijah remained.

Bonnie had been as gracious a hostess as ever, but there'd been no denying the overall disdain she'd felt for the elder Mikaelson. For his part, Elijah had been completely out of sorts as to how to even begin to mend fences with the Bennett witch.

His betrayal of her the night the moonstone curse was broken along with his role in the events leading up to her mother being turned, placed Elijah in the very uncomfortable category of _untrustworthy_. That-in addition to the discovery of just how tightly woven the connection between the Mikaelsons and the Bennetts and been through Ayanna-left him feeling like a proper shit whenever he was in Bonnie's presence.

Klaus would be lying if he said he hadn't found his brother's discomfort amusing. Nor had he any intention of helping Elijah figure his way out of it. After all, there weren't many opportunities to watch the great Elijah Mikaelson squirm and one needed to take advantage of all of them when they presented themselves.

Besides…knowing them both as he did, he'd known there would eventually be a conversation between the two. When it finally did happen, tensions slowly thawed. Enough for Bonnie to eventually choose to seek Elijah's input regarding The Cauldron. The manner in which he founded The Strix swaying her interest.

The more time he spent with Bonnie and Alaric, the more invested he became in the witch's vision for herself as well as The Cauldron. Bonnie's actions had afforded her the kind of political capital that even the Mikaelsons hadn't achieved. And after witnessing the manner in which she wielded that power, Elijah slowly became nothing less than a devotee.

The elder Mikaelson had always searched for something to believe in—something on which to bestow the tattered remnants of his faith. Klaus didn't know the exact moment when it happened, but he did know that Elijah had begun construction on the pedestal he'd eventually set Bonnie's dainty feet upon.

Between Elijah and Alaric, Bonnie had the support system necessary for The Cauldron to thrive. The organization itself had a veritable Smithsonian of the supernatural both in its ownership and operation.

The Mistress of the Cauldron—as many began calling her—was in equally high demand. When she wasn't providing counsel regarding the spirits, she was in the field with either Elijah or Alaric in search of one magical artifact or another. When she wasn't doing that, she was mentoring Hope and the Saltzman twins with their magic-the three young girls having become fast friends and nearly inseparable.

It was no secret that he found Bonnie's—and by extension The Cauldron's—neutrality on supernatural matters woefully inconvenient. He was mated by blood and magic to one of if not the most powerful witches alive. One who sat at the head of one of the most influential organizations to date, and yet the benefits of such proximity were ultimately no more or less than what anyone else received. If Bonnie were a different sort, he would have been able to claim and rule all in short order.

Instead, his beloved held the preservation of the balance as tantamount to all else, unwilling to be drawn—despite his best efforts—into affairs that were, as she described them, _none of her damn business_.

She had become like the witches of old. The ones who were able to sit far enough away from the painting to take it all in; intervening only when the balance was in question. It was a stance that carried a great deal of weight, for if Bonnie Bennett-Mikaelson ever felt compelled to enter the fray…then they would all be compelled to enter it with her.

As for himself, the words of his father rang true to his ears now. Ansel told him that he had the power to reunite the Northeast Atlantic Pack and he remembers the night that such a claim had inadvertently been set into motion.

" _I've got five new loners," Erik grumbled._

" _You say that like it's a bad thing," James snorted._

" _It is when they show up and say they want to be part of 'The Six Packs'. Thanks to Klaus here, we now sound like a band of pro-wrestlers."_

 _Frederick snorted into his drink while Klaus frowned, "I've never implied an affiliation with your packs."_

" _You don't have to," Chloe said quietly from her perch atop Frederick's desk. "The evidence speaks for itself. Your pack follows the old ways…and more often than not so do you, surprisingly enough."_

 _Klaus stared at her, his face unreadable._

" _We all know that of everyone in this room, I'm your harshest critic," the alpha continued. "But I can admit that you've done well by your pack. An alpha's duty is not only to ensure that the pack survives, but that it thrives as well. And it thrives when it leads by example. That is how the five packs became a band of pro-wrestlers when you weren't looking."_

" _Which is why we wanted to speak with you," Neil said finally. "Among our packs, we've had a sort of foster program when it comes to loners for the past few decades. Not every loner is a fit for the pack they initially contact. And because of how close we all are, we tend to have a good idea of where among us loners would fit."_

 _The hybrid's eyes narrowed as he absorbed that bit of information only to have them widen slightly when Chloe spoke again._

" _I have four loners that I think would do well to foster with you. Will you have them?"_

 _If he agreed to this, he would also be accepting his place as an alpha among them. That this was being offered spoke volumes as to how his relationship with these wolves had changed. To go from drinking first thing in the morning at the idea of him having a pack at all to now being presented with an opportunity to expand. He couldn't deny the sense of satisfaction that warmed him nor could he ignore the sense that his decision one way or the other would set in motion a series of events that would determine the manner in which his legacy within the Northeast Atlantic Pack would be realized._

" _Of course," he replied._

Those four lone wolves were not the only ones. The wolves from the greater Northeast Atlantic Pack had also begun to migrate towards both his and the other five packs. A shift among their kind was underway; an awareness that a place within the supernatural world was for the taking. To be in the midst of it, rather than surviving on the outskirts.

That had been the start.

And now nearly two years later, what had then been but six werewolf packs had grown to twenty-five and he was now just returned from a week-long summit held in the woods surrounding The Cauldron. The history surrounding their kind and that land, had transformed it into a mecca of sorts for those who followed the old ways.

The topic of discussion the first few days had been the reorganization of the packs and his installment as The Great Alpha. Each pack would retain their alpha, but those alphas all chose to submit to him during the subsequent Wild Hunt that took place.

As he walked down the hall, he knew that part of the reason for the relative ease with which the decision had been made lay on the other side of his bedroom door.

Klaus entered their master suite to find Bonnie sleeping on their bed with Hope cuddled up beside her-his daughter's nine-year old arm protectively thrown across the witch's protruding belly as she slept.

From the moment she'd been told that Bonnie was pregnant, Hope appointed herself the protector of both her step-mother and her siblings, using every opportunity to fret and fuss over them to Klaus' unending amusement. She wasn't alone in her excitement.

When word got out that the son of the Great Alpha and the descendant of the Great Healer were expecting, the reunification efforts within the Northeast kicked into high gear; the impending birth being seen as a sign among even the most skeptical.

And while he certainly appreciated and benefitted from that perspective, it did not detract from the fact that his mate...his Bonnie...now carried within her not one but two tiny and wholly unexpected expressions of their union. He'd foolishly missed out on most of Haley's pregnancy and it was an error made certain not to repeat.

The hybrid kicked off his shoes before settling himself behind Bonnie, his fingers brushing the softness of the witch's cheek.

Bonnie stirred at the movement before opening her eyes. "You're home," she whispered, snuggling closer and inhaling the scent that always clung to him after a shift.

"Indeed I am. And what's this? You're not one for afternoon naps." Though her due date was a mere two weeks away, the witch was still a whirlwind of constant activity. Caroline's threats seeming to be the only thing capable of slowing her down.

"Blame Wolfie," the witch muttered sleepily, speaking of Hope. "She said I looked tired. I told her I wasn't and she still threw a sleeping spell at me when my back was turned."

"She did look tired, Dad," Hope insisted, yawning as she sat up.

"I'm sure she did sweetheart," the hybrid agreed as he watched the child climb out of bed.

"I'm going to go find Celeste so I finish my homework," she announced before exiting the room and closing the door behind her.

Klaus wasn't sure what one really had to do with the other, but Hope had been quite taken with the hellhound from the start and usually sought her out before retreating to her bedroom.

Klaus drew Bonnie closer, his large hand resting on her belly as the tiny lives inside stirred, sensing his presence.

"Where's Elijah?" he asked.

"On his way to the airport with Haley," Bonnie explained. "They dropped Wolfie off on the way," the witch explained, wriggling even closer, the heat of his body soothing the ache in her lower back.

Klaus frowned as he nuzzled her ear. "What would prompt them to leave _now_ , knowing how close we are to your due date?"

"Elijah's got a really good lead on the Skull of Anubis, so he put together a team to check it out and hopefully bring it back," Bonnie explained. "They should only be gone a couple of days." The dark object was a rare and powerful tool, believed lost to antiquity and catastrophically dangerous if it wound up in the wrong hands.

Klaus grumbled in annoyance but said nothing. If Haley and Elijah weren't back before Bonnie's first contraction, there would be hell to pay.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be here in time," Bonnie soothed, her fingers lightly stroking the back of his hand as his nearness started lulling her back to sleep.

"They'd better be," he muttered, inhaling the faint scent of lemongrass in her hair. "Preparations have already begun and if everyone else manages to be here in time and they aren't, I will be very put out."

Bonnie's brows knit in confusion. "Everyone? Who's _everyone_?"

Caroline and Stefan would naturally be there along with Rebekah, Freya and Kol, but this 'everyone' her husband spoke of seemed a much greater number.

" _Everyone_ , love. My alphas will be here along with quite few pack members. Marcel, Vincent and a healthy portion of New Orleans will be here along with them.

Bonnie's mouth worked as she struggled to settle on which question to ask first. "Um…why? Are they planning to just camp out at the hospital for God knows how long?"

The witch craned her neck around when she received no answer. "Nik?"

Klaus sighed, deciding to put the discussion off no longer. "About the hospital…" the hybrid began, murmuring into her hair.

His tone revealed the truth of it. He was about to try and convince her to do something she should probably say no to out of hand. It didn't take long to add that tone to the subject matter and multiply it by at least two hundred of their nearest and dearest.

"You want me to give birth in the _woods_ ," she accused incredulously."

"It has always been the way of the wolf. And considering the political ramifications of such an event—

" _You want me to give birth in the woods_ ," the witch repeated, trying and failing to wrap her brain around the concept.

"—the necessity of having a gathering of not only our pack but also our greatest allies—"

" _You want me to give birth in the woods_."

They hybrid's lips grazed her temple. "I want you to give birth in the woods."

Bonnie groaned before struggling to prop herself up. "You want me to forgo a nice clean hospital and really great drugs to give birth in the woods?"

"Frederick and Pamela will return in a few days," he answered, speaking of the judge and his mate. Pamela was a doula and had been ushering in nearly all of the births within the original five packs for over twenty years.

Bonnie's jaw dropped.

"One: not cool springing this on me this late in the game," she began. "Two: _I get it_. I get the aesthetic. You and I bringing the fruit of our union into the world with heaven and earth as witness. In the very same woods that you formed our pack and claimed me as your mate. _Believe me, I get it_. The intangibles are off the charts."

Green eyes narrowed threateningly, "But after carrying around two bowling balls with feet for the past several months, _I'm not here for intangibles, Nik_. And without the intangibles, all I'm left with is giving birth on the cold, wet ground with low hanging branches smacking me in the face, noisy woodland creatures and insects crawling into places they have no business."

"Bonnie," Klaus chided, cupping her cheek and turning her head gently towards him. "Do you _really_ think I would ask this of you without guaranteeing that your every need is met? Your every comfort attended to?"

The witch's lips pursed in consternation as she frowned adorably. "No," answered, she admitted, sullenly.

The hybrid's lips were at her ear. "I promise that what I have in store for you will make you wonder why on earth you wanted to bring our children into the world while locked in a cement box filled with the sickly and beneath horrible overhead lighting." He kissed the shell of her ear before pulling back to await her decision.

Bonnie glared up at the spin doctor she shared a life with, "You're _awful_."

Klaus nodded sagely, " _I know_."

The witched eased herself up into a sitting position; grinding her teeth before finally folding her hands atop her large belly. " _Fine_. I'll give birth in the woods," she sulked.

Klaus kissed her pouting mouth, his lips lingering against hers; their bond filling with his amusement.

#

"I can't believe you let Klaus talk you into having these babies out here," Caroline chuckled.

Bonnie gripped the vampire's hand tightly as another contraction overtook her.

"It's a tradition," she panted. "I want my kids to have that. Besides…this _is_ nicer than the hospital."

"It is," Caroline replied, taking in the massive pavilion Klaus had erected far enough away from the wolf encampment as to give the expectant mother some much needed privacy.

"But I've got to say…this looks like something on _Vikings_ ," the blonde mused, taking in the woven rugs on the floor, the fur pelts and cushions covering the large bed on which Bonnie was resting. Ornate lanterns had been hung, illuminating the space in candlelight. In each corner, a brazier smoldered; a silencing spell cast by Vincent hanging in the air. Toward the center of the pavilion stood the birthing stool Bonnie would use when the time came.

"It totally does but it's grown on me," the witch chuckled, reaching for her cup of shaved ice.

"Where is Klaus anyway?" Caroline asked.

"At the circle. Vincent needed his blood for the Naming ritual. He's supposed to send someone over here to get mine soon."

Caroline climbed onto the bed and lay next Bonnie. "How are you doing?"

Bonnie sighed, "I'm nervous. I'm excited and I'm still in a little bit of disbelief."

"Disbelief…why?"

"If you'd asked me two or three years ago if I could see myself happy and married and about to have babies, the answer would have been a firm no," the witch explained. "I'm in a future I never expected to be in and I don't know how to feel about that. I mean I'm happy…but I'm _shocked_ ," she chuckled ruefully.

"Well I'm proud of you, kiddo," Caroline stated, "From wallflower cheerleader to super badass mama witch. It's a good look on you." She threw her arm around the witch's shoulders.

Bonnie tilted her head towards Caroline. "I hope I'm a good mom, Care."

"Take it from someone who had one. You are the stuff that good moms are made of," the vampire replied, squeezing her.

A throat cleared outside. "May I come in?" Elijah asked

"Sure if you don't mind hormonal witches that also happen to be big as houses," Bonnie answered.

Elijah pulled open the pavilion entrance and stepped inside. "Fortunately for me, those happen to be my favorite kind." He came to stand by her bedside and dropped a light kiss on her forehead.

"Vincent sent me to collect a bit of your blood," he explained, removing an empty vial and a small knife from his pocket.

Bonnie held out her hand to the vampire, wrinkling her nose when he drew the blade across her palm.

Elijah held her bleeding hand over the vial as her blood began to fill it.

"So what's going on out there?" Bonnie asked.

"A lot of eating…a lot of drinking…a lot of dancing…"

"Not that stuff. The good stuff."

Elijah smiled before his voice dropped to a conspiratorial levels.

"Well, Rebekah and Marcel have been deep in conversation for over an hour. Tyler has been exhibiting sympathy pains during Chloe's pregnancy. Hope, Lizzie and JoJo are currently conspiring against Freya, Kol is flirting with James, and I remain in awe of the amount of marijuana Neil seems to have at his disposal for any given occasion. Oh and it appears the Alaric has finally convinced Stefan to come aboard and assist in setting up The Cauldron's field offices for Phase II.

"Finally!" Caroline and Bonnie said in unison.

Elijah removed Bonnie's hand from the vial. He turned the palm to his lips and pressed them against it; his tongue darting out quickly to seal the wound before his eyes met hers.

Bonnie blushed, smiling her thanks as she watched him place a stopper in the vial and leave. Once he was gone, she turned to Caroline who now sat up beside her. Her eyes wide as saucers and her mouth hanging open.

"Ok, what the hell was that?"

"Girl…," Bonnie sighed, "that is a very long and complicated story."

Klaus entered the pavilion with Pamela in tow. The doula immediately went over to the birthing stool and began preparing the area.

The hybrid's hand enclosed hers as another contraction began to build.

"Pamela believes we will begin soon," he said gently.

"Which means that's my cue to leave. I need to find Stefan so he can sit on me until this is over," Caroline announced, scrambling off the bed.

She leaned over and kissed Bonnie's cheek. "I love you," she said before lowering her face to the witch's round belly. "I can't wait to spoil you two rotten," she whispered excitedly.

Pamela waited for Caroline to leave before coming over.

"How are we doing, little mama?" The older woman asked. Frederick's mate was born and raised in Arkansas and the light metallic twang of the region still clung to her every word. Pearl white teeth flashed against reddish brown skin; aged and as supple as fine leather.

"I'm feel like I'm going to pop," Bonnie chuckled, her voice breaking with another contraction. She squeezed Klaus' hand hard as Pamela's hands ran over her stomach, feeling for the placement of the twins.

Bonnie's eyes caught the flash of the amulet that hung from the doula's neck. She'd given it to her two weeks ago after casting a protection spell over it. A matter of caution given the uniqueness of her impending delivery.

" _First of all, let me just say that I am honored to be asked to participate in bringing forth this blessing. When my Freddie told me, I almost cried," Pamela drawled._

" _What do you mean almost?" Frederick muttered from across the room._

" _Oh hush," Pamela chided, her hand waving irritably._

 _After a time, the judge removed himself leaving Pamela alone with the expectant parents. As a midwife and herbalist, she'd participated in the deliveries of most of the births within the packs for the past twenty five years._

" _Now," Pamela said after they'd been speaking for several minutes. "We should probably discuss a few safety precautions."_

 _Bonnie frowned, "What? Safety precautions?" She looked over to Klaus seated beside her, his hand resting lightly on her stomach._

" _Explain," he said softly._

" _Well…physiologically speaking, this should be a very cut and dry affair. Bonnie is young, strong and healthy. Supernaturally speaking though, we're in unchartered territory here. Not only is one of their parents a witch, she's an obscenely powerful one to boot._

" _Not to put too fine a point on it, but we don't know what kind of power's brewing in there or how it's planning on showing up." Pamela eyed, Bonnie's belly carefully._

 _Klaus scoffed, "You're joking."_

 _The hybrid watched as Pamela, pulled her shirt away from one shoulder revealing scarred and twisted flesh covering it._

" _About twenty years ago I helped a young witch give birth. She was an ancestral witch and the idiot that knocked her up was dabbling in Expression. When the baby came out, every cry out of his mouth was a curse. I got hit with one," the werewolf explained, straightening her shirt._

" _Now I'm not saying that something bad's going to happen. But the fact remains that when witches are added to the most mundane equations, things get weird and possibly dangerous."_

" _She's right," Bonnie nodded. "We should set up some wards and protection spells just to be sure._

" _Fine. I'll contact Vincent," Klaus agreed._

 _Pamela smiled, "I'm sure everything's going to be fine. Hell for all we know, they may decide to just beam their way out," she mused._

"Alpha, we need to move her," Pamela said as Klaus bent to gather Bonnie into his arms. He carried her over to the birthing stool; stopping for a moment as the witch breathed her way through another contraction.

Once she was seated comfortably, Klaus placed himself behind her, close enough for her to lean back and onto him for support. Pamela positioned herself before them and nodded for Klaus to begin.

The hybrid's hands found Bonnie's; fingers intertwined. He felt the telltale signs of Bonnie's magic seeking him out to latch on and channel as her contractions grew stronger. Klaus grimaced slightly, sharing in her pain as a result of the connection.

Pamela smiled encouragingly at Bonnie and Klaus before speaking directly to Bonnie's stomach.

"Alright you two…this is your last chance to beam out…"

#

Hope Mikaelson was not known for being the most patient child. She hated waiting even more than she loved the satisfaction that came after it. Especially when the length of the wait was dictated by someone else.

It had been hours since her father entered Bonnie's tent. Yes there was a huge party going while everyone waited for her brother and sister to be born and yes she was having fun with Lizzie and JoJo. But that didn't distract her from the fact that she was going to be a big sister any minute now.

Excited couldn't begin to describe the way she felt when she was told about Bonnie's pregnancy. Having seen the bond between Lizzie and JoJo as well as between her father and her aunts and uncles, it was something that she wanted for herself. To have that special connection that grows with you forever.

At first she'd been worried that because they had different mothers, that it wasn't the same. But then the day came when she felt them move for the first time. She actually felt them still beneath her hands; a shared awareness of who and what they were to each other. She was their sister and she would love them and protect them and beat up whoever for them.

So it would surprise no one that she soon found herself stealing away from the festivities to delve deeper into the woods and towards Bonnie's tent.

She saw candlelight emanating from the pavilion but heard not sound; the scent of a silencing spell filling her nostrils.

Hope lifted the entrance flat a bit a peered in; her eyes widening as the entire space was awash in golden candle light. Bonnie was settling herself into her bed, as Pamela carried a small bundle in her arms. A pair of tiny indignant fists flailed in the air and a red scrunched face howled an outrage Vincent's spell kept her from hearing until finally being placed in the witch's arms.

Bonnie smiled tiredly down at the infant she held, a tear rolling down her cheek.

Hope watched as her father came to sit on the edge next to her, an equally small bundle tucked into the crook of his arm. She watched as he leaned over and brushed Bonnie's tear away with his thumb before pressing his forehead to hers.

A delighted grin split the young girl's face as she raced back to the encampment shouting the arrivals of Ansel and Ayanna Bennett-Mikaelson.

 **BKBKBKBK**

Klaus sat on the edge of the bed and pulled at the bowtie of his tuxedo, letting it hang loose around his neck as he held a champagne flute. The evening's festivities had been a rousing success. Their seventh wedding anniversary was celebrated with a charity ball as it had been every year. The proceeds from the white tie event going to local charities.

Their circle of friends, extended family and closest allies had all been in attendance; wolves, witches and vampires mingling with the oblivious humans from the region.

Now, he could hear the household staff puttering about below as the last of their guests were finally gone. Their children had been put to bed hours ago, but that did not stop him from peering into their rooms.

Hope was nearly sixteen now; bearing all the wildness and confusion that came with such a tender age. Next came Ansel and Ayanna, the former having his mother's affection for magic while the latter inherited his love of the arts. After the twins, was Henrik whose six year old mind soaked up knowledge like a sponge.

Henrik was swiftly followed by Magnus, who was nothing less than the universe's revenge upon them all. And finally, Sheila their youngest. A happy toddler clearly destined to be the spitting image of her mother.

Their mating had produced five magic-wielding yet beautifully feral children who would, along with Hope carry on the legacy of their bloodlines. Bloodlines that now held him as the Great Alpha of the entire Northeast Atlantic Pack and Bonnie as The Bennett Witch and Mistress of The Cauldron.

The Cauldron had grown by leaps and bounds over the years, solidifying its position in their world. Even now expanding its reach to a global scale. His little witch described it as being "Wolfram & Hart without the evil lawyers and pro-apocalypse platform _._ "

He still didn't know what the hell that meant.

" _I'm immortal, Bonnie. Sixty to seventy years is but a minute. Having been in your company, I know that a minute is simply not long enough."_

Everyday those words proved truer now than when he'd first uttered them. Being who they are, their life together wasn't easy by any means. There was conflict, but also resolution. They'd brought each both tears as well as joy; rage as well as repentance. And yet the bond between them never let them stray so far as to lose sight of one another.

"And just what are you thinking about?" Bonnie called from the doorway of their bathroom. She still wore the deep red silk chiffon gown that had stolen his breath away when he first beheld her in it. Her hair was no longer gathered into the elaborate chignon she'd worn and instead hung in tousled waves down her back.

Klaus smiled as she walked towards him, the slit her gown offering a glimpse at the full length of her shapely leg with each step. She stopped in front of him, taking the champagne flute from his fingertips and finishing off its contents.

"Time," the hybrid said finally as he stood and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"What about it?" Bonnie asked, spelling the flute away to find a flat surface and pressing herself closer to him.

"Oh, just deciding how wisely or recklessly to spend it while we're gone." In the morning they would set off for parts known only to him; spending the next several weeks as far away from responsibilities as humanly and inhumanly possible.

"While we're gone to….?" Bonnie needled.

Klaus smirked, "Have I ever revealed our destinations on any of these excursions before?"

Bonnie frowned adorably, "No."

"Then why one earth would I start now?" He asked, eyes gleaming.

"You are such a shit," Bonnie huffed before breaking into a grin.

"I know," the hybrid teased before drawing her close, ghosting his lips across hers; enjoying the familiar flutter of her heart at the action before kissing her fully.

His arms tightened around her as their kiss deepened, his tongue tasting the remnants of champagne mixed with a flavor that was inherently Bonnie. His fingers deftly found the zipper at her back and slowly pulled it down.

The witch froze suddenly, a muffled squeal coming from the back of her throat as she wriggled free of his grasp and danced away from him on bare feet; hugging the elaborately beaded bodice of the gown to herself.

"Oh my God! I can't believe I almost forgot your present," she gasped, her eyes dancing.

Klaus reached for her, "I promise you it can wait," he said, his eyes smoldering.

Bonnie backed away from him even farther. "Nope. This time I think I've got you beat so I don't want to wait."

As competitive as he was about everything, Bonnie was equally so on the matter of gift giving. She was committed to finding something that would provoke genuine surprise in him. And while she was admittedly full of surprises as a matter of course, when it came to gifts there was very little she could do considering one such as he has either seen or owned just about everything of note at one time or another.

He watched as she hurried over to her altar, still clutching the bodice of her gown to her bosom. The massive piece had been carved by Klaus as a gift for her when they moved into the mansion he'd built shortly after the twins were born.

Bonnie lifted a small box from the altar and made her way back to him. She placed it in his hands, her eyes bright with expectation.

It was a known fact that no matter how much effort or secrecy went into buying her husband a gift, he always outdid her; never failing to reduce her to puddle of happy tears. Just once she hoped to elicit the same.

Klaus opened the box slowly, revealing an empty glass vial nestled atop a bed of velvet. He lifted the vial and inspected it, detecting minute droplets of a red substance he couldn't identify still clinging to its interior.

Confused, he held the vial up and quirked an eyebrow. "What was in this?"

Bonnie smiled shyly before taking a deep breath.

"Qetsiyah's immortality spell."

The hybrid froze. Every fiber of his being quite literally froze in place as his mind attempted to fumble at her meaning with tremulous fingers; trying to grasp the implication of her words.

"Turns out you were right," she went on. "A minute isn't long enough."

Bonnie's eyes filled with tears as she watched realization dawn on his face. He appeared to be struck dumb by her revelation as he stared at her; trying to decide if she was joking.

"I tweaked it a little," she explained, needing to fill the silence with something. "So while a little blood will have to be introduced into my diet now, it doesn't have to be hu—

Box and vial fell from Klaus' hands as he reached for her, cupping her face. When his lips found hers, it was as if a dam had burst within the bond. Years of fear and dread at the thought of losing her-fears he'd staunchly kept from her for her sake—crumbled before them as she felt his tears on her face.

He trembled beneath her hands; a great and secret weight suddenly lifted. A forewarned fall into a chasm of grief and loss blessedly averted. _She was his_. And words simply failed.

He kissed her hard as her arms wound around his neck, allowing her gown to finally pool around her ankles. Bonnie kissed him back with equal fervor, her hands now clawing at his shirt; buttons falling soundlessly to the floor as she pushed it off of his shoulders.

Her legs were around his waist a moment later as he lifted her; turning to lay her on their bed and covering her body with his.

When he finally found his voice, the words of love that escaped were broken and jumbled; a nonsensical litany, yet echoed by the woman in his arms.

Simple words, really. Much too small to bear the full weight of the love that brought them forth.

Words like _always_ …and _forever_.

 **THE BEGINNING**

A/N: That's all folks! Yay Whoooo! *bootydance*

So sorry it took so long to post these but between the new year, rewrites and that Mango Mussolini in the White House...my brain has been a wee bit scattered.

I hope you all enjoyed Truth Teller. Yes the title comes from a shady ass subtweet that Katy Perry sent about Taylor Swift during the Kanye debacle. (Full disclosure: not a fan of either of them LOL)

Anyway, I hope Chapter 24 made sense as it had a lot of moving parts. I hope that each scene came across clearly both individually and series of events happening at the same time. The final chapter is really supposed to double as both a flashforwards into Klonnie's future and a roadmap for any future Klonnie I write from this universe. I already have one shots, drabbles, etc planned that kind of fill in the blanks that have been set up in 25 (how did klonnie get preggo? How did Klaus unite the packs, what's going on with bonlijah? Steroline wedding anyone? Klonnie honeymoon?)

There were also somethings that I had to cut out. I think early on a Guest wondered why Bob wasn't seeking out Valerie since she's a powerful heretic. I actually do have a reason for that and it involved a flashback scene with Stefan that would've explain why she's not an option for anyone (and no she isn't dead).

The only reason I didn't include it is because by the time I got to the point where Stefan and Caroline arrive, I couldn't figure out where to put it and not have it just stick out like a sore thumb in the narrative. All of the flashbacks are designed to give info on character or plot development. Like the one that explains Caroline's twins also involves Bonnie's convo with Alaric which was a necessary seed that needed to be planted. I didn't have anything that could really accompany the Stefan/Valerie scene in that way so I cut it. But I might still post it later because I think it's a pretty cool scene.

In case anybody's wondering where Matt is in all of this, he's gone. Since I was working with S7 as reference I pretty much left him as having separated himself from the supernatural after his fiancé's ghost got him out of that accident. Because there's really is no place for him in all of that and Bonnie's not the type to try and drag him back. Although he may turn up at a later date.

Anyway, thank you all so much for reading and for your reviews and kind words. Y'all made my first time awesome. Please feel free to let me know your final thoughts on this fic either here or on Tumblr. Chapter 24 stressed me out because there's so much going on at one time so I'd really appreciate feedback if it all made sense lol.

And many thanks to the best cheerleader ever Anastasia-G. She made my new title card and it's DOPE.

I'm gonna take a break but I do have two (?!) AH AU's on the horizon which I'm hoping turn out really funny.

Cheers!


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